Disperse Nostalgia
by AC Phoenix
Summary: Old title: Memories Left in the Dark... summary is in the first chapter. Sorry I haven't been updating. HieixOC.
1. Ch 0: Summary

**Disclaimer:**

**Neko: **Hello everyone! For those of you who have read this fanfiction previosly, THE PLOTHAS CHANGED SLIGHTLY! So don't freak out if there are some new twists. Fell free to review (no flames, bashing, etc.) even if you've already reviewed. Tell me what you think; if you like this plotline or the other one better! Oh, and I'm still neko, I just decided to change my pin-name to "hajimeten" so don't get confused.

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Summary: Catherine Akako is a one-parented child. One day her life is completely changed and accidentally helps release a demon sentenced for exicution. Until the demon is caught, Catherine is to stay in the Human World due to Konema having to deal with the threat. Catherine also meets a wolf from a Wolf Demon Clan who is attacked by two members of a Coyote Demon Clan. Will Catherine have enough time to save the Wolf Demon Clan or will her time run out?

Read to find out. HieixOC

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**Neko:** (Update) Okay, I've decided to delete all of my un-needed story and re-created it a bit. Hope it's a little better! For those of you who've already read it, read it again because I made a huge twist so the story fits.


	2. Ch 1: Encounters and Introductions

Chapter One: Introductions 

The sound of rushing footsteps was heard coming from the other end of the sidewalk coming from a fourteen-year-old girl. Her raven hair was neatly braided and whipped behind her back as she ran along the sidewalk with her gray eyes full of annoyance. "Dam' it. _Munch_. I've got seven minutes to make it before the bell rings." The petite teenager said. Her voice was muffled since it had been full from the toast she had devoured within the run. A female gakkou fuku hung over her shoulders while the skirt hovered on her hips. The girl lunged her legs and pushed off, jumping over the wall she approached as a loud bell rang. Despite the hollering echos, she continued to dash forward. She wouldn't be surprised if one of the teachers would scold her. No matter, she would make up an excuse later.

"Catherine Akako—"

"Sorry Mr. Takenaka! It won't happen again!" the girl called. _But I can't keep that promise if I'm late again_, she noted mentally. Her name was Catherine Akako, an 8th grade transfer student and had met Mr. Takanaka at a previous meeting--- most likely about her absences. She was part Chinese, though had lived in Hong Kong most of her life. Talking about her family was a touchy subject since her father and her two siblings had mysteriously disappeared without a trace of evidence of where they went to, leaving her mother and herself alone. Her grandmother had lived in Japan, and other than her aunt and uncle, they were the only few residents of their family living there. She shook her head, ignoring the past that shoved in her mind every so often and slowed down as she approached a classroom, slowing down as she got closer and closer. Her hand slid into the handle slowly--- she could hear the teacher taking role--- and with a calm breath, she pulled the door open slowly and entered the classroom.

----

"The new student that was suppose to be in our class finally came today." a teenager said. He gazed his small, blue pupils towards the sky as the two teenagers walked along the sidewalk. It had been half an hour since the bell rang. He combed his orange, curl-topped hair and glanced towards the other teenager. His name was Kazuma Kuwabara and called himself "The number two delinquent in Sarayashiki Jr. High". Although he is not the _best_ student at the junior high, he is a well fighter but has a weakness for cats and women.

"Really..." was the uninterested reply from the other teenager. Unlike Kuwabara, he wore a green jumper even though he attended the same school. He always says, "Green looks better on me." His chocolate-brown eyes gazed lazily towards the sidewalk in front of him while he kicked a soda can in front of him. His name was Yusuke Urameshi; most people fear him from his bad reputation which gave him the title "Top delinquent of Sarayashiki", but those who personally knew him, found he was not as bad as his title. He didn't care who his opponent was and would show no mercy if they caught him at the wrong time, unlike Kuwabara who opposes of fighting women or girls. Although Kuwabara had been Yusuke's cheif rival, he was also somewhat a friend. Though today he didn't feel like talking about class--- not that he ever _did_.

"Yeah, she's short but kinda..." his voice trailed off as he gazed at the corner of their sidewalk. Yusuke looked towards the tall teenager then glanced towards his direction. Three... no four... guys surrounded a student. A punch coming from the girl to one of the boys who approached her gave him a signal that they weren't friends. An exasperated sigh left the delinquents lips. He pulled his leg backward, then flung it forward (hitting the can) and the can launched forward.

"C'mon, we just want to have a nice chat..." His voice was sly and the wry face showed no sign of peace. His head twisted as a can flung into his cheek, leaving a red mark on his face. As the four jerked their heads over, this gave Catherine a chance to push forward, throwing the two that had grabbed her by the arms into the boy in front. Since there was more impact than she had guessed, the momentum sprung her backwards onto the ground. _Stupid Momentum! Even _you're_ kicking me down to the ground today, _she thought sarcastically.

"Why you..."

The three stood up after the 'pack leader' shoved them off. "All right! Who's the idi---" he froze in fear as the two teenagers approached them.

"I-it's Urameshi!" one of them squeaked.

"I'd better not see any of you around here again. _Unless you're ready for a funeral._" Yusuke said with a grim voice. The four teenage-boys shrieked in fear and scrambled to their feet, running off.

Catherine looked towards the two, still on guard. She even tensed a bit as the taller teenager approached her clapping his hands into hers, "Don't worry now, those _morons_ won't bother you anymore. _I'll_ protect you." he said.

"Kuwabara, you might wan'na back off. She looks like she's gonna---" but before Yusuke could finish a loud WHAM made him wince. Kuwabara stood frozen for a second as his face swelled into a deep red and he fell the opposite direction he was punched. Catherine knelt with a vein popping from her forehead and retreated her fist, pulling herself up. She glanced towards Yusuke as he snickered helplessly, but not as sternly as she had with Kuwabara. She assumed that he had at least _some_ morality in him. "That's Kuwabara for ya'. Weak in the knees when he sees a pretty girl."

Kuwabara pulled himself up to his feet, groaning. "Shaddup Urameshi." he grumbled.

"And whatever happened to _Yukina_? You're not planning on _two-timing _her, are you?"

"I'd never betray Yukina!"

Catherine stared at the two with a confused expression. It finally occurred to the boys that she had been watching them as Kuwabara bickered and Yusuke replied with sarcasm. What an odd pair of friends, but then again she had no idea who they were in the first place so who was she to judge?

"Sorry about that. Oh by the way, the name's Yusuke Urameshi."

"I'm Kazuma Kuwabara, we have the same homeroom."

"Oh, right. You can just call me Cat."

"Want to go to the arcade with us? Just in case some other goons show up." Yusuke asked. Kuwabara looked towards him, giving a frown (most likely a pout since he hadn't been able to offer first).

"Sorry, can't. I'm busy."

"We'll walk you if you want."

"... It's really not that far from here..."

Yusuke grinned as she stared awkwardly towards Kuwabara, "Don't worry about him, he's an idiot but he's harmless."

"Hey!" Kuwabara said angrily.

Catherine gave a weak smile and sighed, "All right, I guess..."

"Just lead the way."

Catherine nodded and started to walk across the street as the 'walk' light turned on. She heard mummers around her as she continued to walk on the other sidewalk. It was quite a walk, which Yusuke and Kuwabara had figured out considering they had lost her at a few corners and had to at least jog to catch up to her (mostly because since her legs were short it took her twice as long to walk as it did for them). The two boys exchanged glances as they stood in front of a bookstore and then looked back towards Catherine. She turned towards them, giving a short bow. "Um, thanks. I can handle it from here---"

"Rin-neechyan! Rin-neechyan!" a voice chanted.

An exasperated sigh came from Catherine as one seven-year-old leaped onto her back while the other clanged onto her arm. The two young girls were identical though one girl wore a tight french braid while the other had a loose braid. The french-braided girl clutched onto Catherine's arm while the other girl hung on Catherine's back. Both of their eyes were a shade of hazel full of excitement.

"Rin-neechan?" Yusuke questioned.

"Hey, are these your siblings?" Kuwabara asked.

"No, they're my cousins. Rin is just a nickname they gave me." Catherine stated. '_But half of that is a lie... most of my family in the Shiro and Kawaki branches know me as 'Rine' (REE-nEH). Technically that's not a lie either, it's just part of my name and pronounced differently. I guess auntie called me as 'Rine' while the twins and a Kawaki member were around._'Catherine thought at the back of her mind. '_Just thinking about it gives me a headache._'

"Rin-neechyan, we can't find mama."

Catherine glanced back towards the girl hanging on her shoulders, "Eh, Aiko right?"

"Mnh!" Aiko nodded with a cheerful grin.

"Did she fall into another book-slide?" Catherine asked exasperatedly.

"Hadn't thought of that! Mama did say she was fixing the books and then Naomi said she heard something fall."

Naomi only gave a short nod; she seemed to be the less-energetic twin and was more on the shy and smart type rather than energetic and brawn Aiko. They were almost complete opposites and it was quite ironic, though it was quite practical. Naomi looked up towards Catherine then towards the other two. She slid back, closer to Catherine while Kuwabara grinned. She watched as Yusuke murmured something to Kuwabara while hearing this, he growled angrily at Yusuke while he chuckled.

Naomi tugged Catherine's arm. Catherine looked down and then gave a small smile and looked back towards the two. "Well, thanks for earlier. I'll be busy for a while... so if you want to leave I don't mind." Catherine said.

"You sure?" Yusuke asked. He was confirmed with a nod from Catherine and he nudged Kuwabara with his arm, gesturing him to get ready to go. The two boys walked off, most likely heading towards the arcade.

"Okay then, let's look for auntie." Catherine said. She turned towards the bookstore and entered. As she entered, Aiko hopped off of Catherine's back and started to rush off in an isle, "I'll go look over here!" Aiko called. Naomi looked up towards Catherine, who gave a short nod. "You can go with her if you want." Catherine said, assuring her. Naomi gave a soft smile and rushed off towards her sibling. Catherine had forgotten how much of a maze the bookstore was if it was unkempt, and right now, it was very unkempt. She walked solemnly through her isle and looked around, "Oba! Oba!" Catherine called. No reply.

"Honestly... at least pick up the shop." she murmured. She then paused as she felt the back of a leather book. It felt old and worn-out, almost as if it had been there for years (she could tell without looking since the back structer had the leather peeled off). _Did auntie really have such old books?_ Catherine thought. She pulled the book out and examined it-- the book was written in Chinese _Yatta! Something not foreign!_ Catherine cheered. Without looking at the title (not like it had one anyways, it was probably already decayed), she opened the small book and placed her finger onto the symbols as she read silently. She then raised her eyebrow slightly, '_Spells? ... They don't even make any sense..._' she thought to herself. She shut the book with a sigh, _'Well that figures... everything in Japan is in Japanese... you'd think they'd have at least **one** foreign book._' she thought irritatedly. But she couldn't notice (with there not being any mirrors around) that her cheek flashed of a few Chinese characters when she first got into contact with the book. Catherine narrowed her eyes as she saw a creeping shadow and nearly jumped at the sound of another book slide. _I'd better check it out_, she thought.

"Rin-neechyan! Rin-neechyan!" Aiko called. Catherine whirled around to see the two siblings walk over as they clutched onto a woman who gave a sheepish grin and had maybe a paper cut and a bruise or two, "Oh, Rine-chan. It's been a while." she said. Her hazel eyes twinkled with embarrassment as she walked towards Catherine.

"Book-slide?" Catherine questioned in a flat voice, though she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"I wasn't paying much attention while I was sorting out books... I guess I made more of a mess than I had thought." she explained. She then eyed the book Catherine clutched in both hands, "Doing a bit of light reading? Is that even one of ours?"

"I was going to ask the same thing, and yeah... I sort of skimmed the first page. Mind if I take it Auntie Mamori?"

"Well, I don't see any problem of you taking it. Going to stay and help out?"

Catherine hesitated for a while, though relaxed while the woman gestured her hand as if she was only teasing Catherine. "No-no, just joking. It looks to me like you're quite busy." she said. She then looked up to see a tall, young man enter the bookstore. His long red hair waved as he walked inside, "I'm here for a book-order."

_From the looks of his uniform he's from one of the high schools, _Catherine noted as she scanned him from head to toe. He was fairly tall (from Catherine's point of view), _He probably has to beat off a lot of fan girls... or he's a fast runner_, she thought. She hadn't noticed (not like Catherine ever notices anything since she has the attention span of a mule when she's not paying attention) that the young man eyed her, though tried dearly not to chuckle. _She doesn't have any shields. That can be a problem if she's not too careful,_ he thought.

Mamori pondered a moment and then gave an expression of confirm, "Ah yes! Min...-san."

Catherine didn't stay long enough to catch the costumer's name. Instead, she bowed to Mamori and walked out. Without warning she bumped into someone-- somewhat her height, or at least that's what she confirmed from bashing into his head, causing her to cover her head as she fell back. Her leather book slipped out of her hand, lying to the blocker's feet. She then looked up to see a young man dressed in mostly black. His cinnamon-red eyes narrowed sharply towards her, though instead of trembling she shot a glare back towards him.

"You have a hard head, baka onna. Watch where you're going." he said coldly.

"Ha, you're one to talk! You shouldn't stand smack in front of the door, bastard!" Catherine said sharply. She pulled herself up and scrambled for her book, but the stranger picked up her book as she reached for it. She didn't notice the stunned expression he gave since he masked it so quickly while shoving her book towards her without a single word. Catherine narrowed her eyes and stalked off, holding onto her book.

"Hiei, something wrong?"

"It's nothing."

The cloaked man turned, starting to walk off the opposite direction. The teenager gave a mused expression as he saw the ends of a mane turn at a corner but frowned a while later. He heard a screeching sound, which was not pleasent in any kind of means.

------

Catherine heard wheels on the road heading towards her direction and lifted her head up from the book. She froze in fright as she saw a large truck coming towards her. Time just seemed to slow down, though her feet were too numb for her to move. After another loud screech, Catherine collapsed onto the ground. After several moments, a crowd started to make a semi-circle around a figure. From what Catherine could tell from her view, everyone seemed to be in great jeopardy.

_"Eh? What's with the crowd?" Catherine said. _She hadn't realized that she had been floating in thin air.

_She hovered down (still not sure what was going on) towards the crowd and froze as she saw herself lying on the ground, amazingly with small bruises on her head and a few small scrapes under her bottom lip._

"Someone call an ambulance already!" a voice yelled.

_"Isn't that—?"_

"They're heading over here now. Young man, you should—"

"Don't tell me what to do alright?" he yelled.

"Urameshi…" his companion whispered in a cracked voice.

"_What_ Kuwabara?" Yusuke snapped.

"I have those willies again."

"I thought the old hag got rid of that." He paused. "You don't think…" he glanced down towards Catherine (the dead body).

_"I'm… dead?"_

_Before she could continue to wonder how she was floating and lying on the ground at the same time, a hand grabbed her arm and they started to fly off._

_"What on…?"_

_"I'll explain to you when we get there."_

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Neko: That's the end of chapter one (updated, third time's the charm ) 

Explinations:

Catherine's family is split up into three branches:

Akako (Aka: Red, ko: A suffix used meaning 'child') (Red Children)  
Kawaki (Kawa: River, can also mean "fur", Ki: Spirit) (River Spirit)  
Shiromi (Shiro: White, Mi: pronounced: _MEE_ Beautiful, I think it's a suffix but I'm not sure) (White Beauty)

Catherine, Aiko, Naomi and so on, are part of the Akako branch, which has a lot of spirit-energy controllers and talisman masters. There are more spirit-energy controllers than talisman masters, but the reason is still unknown. (More explinations about the families later on)

_People_

Oba: Oba-san means "Aunt". Oba and Obaa are quite different though, so don't get them confused.

Obaa: Obaa-san means "Grandmother" or can be an insult which can mean "old hag"

Nee: Nee-chan means "Big sister" or can be used for grils and women between the ages 12-25. It's pronounced n_EH_-chan

Nii: Nii-chan means "Big brother" or can be used for boys and men between the ages of 12-25. It's pronounced n_EE_-chan (a sharp E)

_Other_

Mamori: Talisman

Naomi: Beautiful

Aiko: ai-love, ko-child (Loved Child)

Yatta!: All right! (excited about something; similar to "sugoi" which means "awsome" but isn't describing a thing, more like an emotion... eh, you get what I mean, right?)


	3. Ch 2: Counter Attack!

**Disclaimer:**

**neko:** Hi Everyone! For those of you just starting to read my story, it might not make sense right now since I just started updating. I know, it seems like I've abandoned this fanfiction but don't worry, I'm still updating as well as working on the sequel. I might even update if I'm still not statisfyed with this one. Please either e-mail me or comment if you have advice/suggestions. Anyways, here's the new chapter!

_Note:_ I know some of the words appear attatched (scoldsher would be "scolds her") It's the stupid document export thing that's screwing with my typing skills! I type it neatly on microsoft word (even when I'm writing on an export) and it attaches words when I save and it ticks me off! So sorry if it's a pain readingthingslikethis but please deal with it for now, I'll try to fix it... somehow.

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_Honorifics_

-chan: Suffix used for friends oranimals. Some people have said that it means "little". (ex: neko-chan, kit-chan, Keiko-chan)

-kun: Used for classmates or friends, often male (ex: Yusuke-kun , Suichi-kun, Kazuma-kun).

-san: A more polite suffix meaning "Mr.", "Miss", "Mrs.". People who are not familiar with each other often use this.

-sama: A **very** formal suffix meaning "Lord", "Lady" or"Honerable". It's only used if a person is very high ranked (ex: Koenma-sama)

-sensei: Sensei is often used for "teachers", "writers", or "doctors". (ex: Takanaka-sensei)

_Blank_: People who don't use Honorifics are usually familiar with each other (friends, family, relatives, employers/employees, etc.). However, Catherine completely dropps the Honorifics, either because she's still not familiar with Japanese or that she doesn't like to use them.

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Chapter 2: Counter Attack! 

_Catherine held onto the back of the oar for dear life, a figure of speech of course. She dared to looked down only to see dozens, dozens, and more dozens of clouds. The oar seemed to pick up speed, which had startled her. She put her free hand to use and held against the end of the oar next to her occupied hand which still helt the oar. Catherine looked down, finally no clouds in range, but to see a strange river. "What's that?"_

_"That, would be the River Styx. I'm the piolet of that river. Friends call me Botan, but I have other names such as the Grim Reaper, or things similar to that." she said._

_"A Grim Reaper that wears _**pink**_?" Catherine asked bluntly. Botan giggled at the remark and spotted two red gates. "We're here." she chirped. She landed onto the floor and dismounted the oar. Without warning, the oar disappeared making Catherine fall with an "Oomph!" Botan gave a meak smile as the angery ghost, "Oops, sorry." she said._

_"Sorry my ass..." Catherine muttered as she pushed the floor with her hand, pulling herself up. Once getting to her feet, she dusted off the dirt on her uniform, muttering more curse words within every puff of dust. She then looked up to behind Botan, "Where are we?" she asked._

_The deathgoddess giggled. "This is the Gate of Judgment. And we're in Spirit World." she said. _

_Catherine nodded. So she was in a different world after all. It finally occured to her that her mother didn't know anything about what happened... but from the morning it didn't seem like she would really care or not._

_

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_

"Catherine, if you care so much about going to school, you could at least be on time." a woman scolded.

"Yeah, yeah Kusari. I know." Catherine said. WHAM! Catherine was locked down to the ground with invisible chains.

"Don't get cocky with me. Until you find out your own power, you adress me as at least 'okaa', wakata?"

"H-hai." Catherine managed to breath. The invisible chains seemed to dissolve, considering that she didn't feel them and felt that it was safe to get up to her feet. In her family, they seem to go by a different name amonx others which is sort of a "family custom". Once a psychic finds their power, they are given a new "nickname" which is used between the family. Her mother's name was apparently "kusari", which litterally means "chain" and seems to suit her. Catherine has yet to find out her power, which was why her mother was so strict about it. Little did she know, she was suppose to have been trained since she was little, but since she hadn't found her power yet, there was nothing for her to train for except normal martial arts. Though even with that, she was still fragile against anyone in her family since they had more life energy than she.

A few mutters were heard from the teenager and Catherine was sent back to the ground with a thud. "I told you not to get cocky with me. If you don't like how I manage things, you can find yourself a home of your own once you can actually break the chains. Until then, you are under my rules." the woman said sternly. With another wag of her index finger, the chains were dissolved and Catherine got up once again and took out the toast that popped out of the toaster. She bit onto the corner of the toast and picked up her schoolbag from the counter. It was her third time exchanging schools and it was sure a pain as it was being re-enrolled into a new school as it was trying to cooperate with the teachers.

"And at least try to not insult one of your teachers again." the woman added exasperatedly.

"Hai." Catherine called, absentmindedly while waving a hand behind her as she headed towards the door.

* * *

_She then pulled outa small notebook out of the sleeve of her pink kimono, "Now let's see, Akako...Akako... Catherine Akako..."she said to herself as she rummaged through the book. Catherine, finally out of deep thought, hearing her name she peered over Botan's shoulder._

_"Ah here we go. Let's see... Catherine Akako, age 13. Personality is appeared to be a lone wolf and sensitive about her height, so much to even bring out a fight. Has a very high IQ but rarely uses her brains unless being scolded." she stated as she read off the book. She then snapped the book shut, "Very complex indeed..." Catherine opened her mouth to retort though the girl inturrupted her. "Anyway, we've already waisted enough time. Let's go." she said as she headed towards the gates. Catherine sighed exasperatedly and ran towards the gates, trying to catch up. __Behind the gates, twas a large building. Inside the building were hundreds of orges and other ferry girls rushing with papers literally flying everywhere. "Stay close, you don't want to get lost in here." the ferry girl said. However, she turned to see that Catherine did not listen to a word she had said. "Oh dear, she's run off somewhere... that isn't good."_

_Catherine found herself far away from Botan and no one seemed to be in sight. "I thought I heard it over here..." she said softly. She then jumped hearing the sound of someone's voice next to her and turned to see a rugged man standing behind bars. His hair was a mess and long at the back to the end of the neck to his black shirt, from what Catherine could see. His skin was tanned, but it seemed to be light probably from not having any sunlight and had to be there for more than several months. Maybe even years._

_"Catherine!" the man said in disbelif._

_"How the hells do you know my name?" Catheirne asked, more in a conserned voice rather than demanding._

_"Please, help me out of here!" he pleaded._

_"Why should I?" Catherine put a hand on the bar-gate. He nearly warned her not to go near it, however it seemed that the reiki that had prisioned him had vanished from her touch. He gazed at her with astonishment, though he should have known better. It _was_ Reikai afterall-- a wonderous place, if only he could get through the blastsed cage. He had only one thing on his mind at the moment, forging every other thought to the corner for the now. He would think about the other problems later._

_He smirked, "That's good enough." he said._

_"Wha--?" she gogged at him once a fireball was unleashed from his hand. "I'd suggest you stand back dear." he said._

_Catherine walked backwards, unbalanced and collapsed as the gate was melted with the flame. A blur appeared between Catherine and the man. Appearing there was a young man with jet-black hair--it seemed to 'wildly' stick up on it's own like a camp-fire with white highlights. A bandage wrapped around the demon's forehead, and to Catherine's surprise she could see a strange purplish aura on his forehead; another bandage wrapped firmly around his arm, or at least part of his arm from what she could tell. The only other thing white was his scarf loosly wrapped around his neck. The demon pulled out his katana from beneath his cloak and pointed the end towards the escaper, "Move and you die."_

_"Wait hold on a sec---" Catherine lifted her hand out motioning to stop him, however to her surprise, the missing reiki from the gate was released from the palm of her hand and nearly missed the petite youkai. He spun around, glaring his wine-red eyes towards her, however looked back only to see an empty cell. "Damn!" he cursed._

_He walked over to Catherine and grabbed her by the uniform neck, "Come with me." he said demandingly. As if she could protest... the instant she opened her mouth with a whoosing sound, the two disappeared from the hallway and arrived in some sort of office. The ceiling seemed to go for yards and the mountain stacks of paper never seemed to end. "That's a helluva lot of homework..." she muttered with a small gape._

_"Hiei your shoulder's bleeding!" Botan stated concerned._

_"No thanks to her." he spat as he dropped the teenager to the ground. She gave an "Oomph!" sound as she bounced onto the floor and rubbed her rear. She narrowed her gleaming eyes towards him and stood back up to her feet, about ready to swing a punch though paused halfway as she remembered his injury._

_"What?" a young voice questioned. Catherine turned to the direction of the voice, though could only tell it came from the mountain-packed desk. She then traced her eyes down when she heard small footsteps approaching them and spotted the pacifire-sucking toddler in front of her. Her eyebrow twisted upwards as she looked at the young tot, though his voice sounded very scholar-like; too much for his own good._

_"She took the reiki from one of the cells and a demon escaped." he said with his impatience rising._

_"Which cell Hiei?" the toddler-king asked._

_Hiei gave the toddler-king the cell number and the toddler's eyes widened, "This is not good." he said as he dropped his head to the ground. It was enough having to work on a destination for a soul, but to retrieve a B-class demon was even more of an uneasy task. This would definately be a problem. He then turned, pacing himself as he walked back to his desk and plopped onto his large chair. The blue orge looked towards his superior who placed his chubby fingertips onto his tender temple accompanied by a groan._

_"Um, just what is going on?" Catherine asked. She had a feeling that she should have kept her mouth shut and try and sneak out before they fuse at her._

_/Don't count on it./_

_Catherine blinked and looked over towards the youkai who was still standing, not facing her. His shoulder that faced her had blood dripping from the back of his cloak to the floor. She really felt miserable watching the drops splash onto the ground creating a small bay of crimson liquid. She figured-- no she _knew_ that he was probably fuerious at her, especially since he carelessly dropped her like an old piece of luggage. Even if he showed no sign of pain, not even a care that his blood was flowing out of his veins, she still felt uneasy. Even if it was an accident, though he probably wouldn't buy it being an accident._

_The toddler sighed, "Hiei why don't you go to the Hospital Wing and I will explain things here?" It was more of an order rather than a question._

_The youkai grunted and disappeared in a blur. Catherine slowly got up to her feet and looked to the now worried-faced toddler. _

_"It seems that your case will have to wait. I'll give you special permission to return to the Human World for a few more days until things are settled with this mess..." he said._

_"But--"_

_He heaved a sighed. "If you are going to ask about what's happenening maybe I should start off. I am Koenma, prince of the Spirit World. You were brought here origionally to be designated a place in Spirit World." _

"Designated?"

_"Normally, when a human soul dies, they are brought up to Spirit World by Botan. They are then put in a spot in Spirit World, I believe Botan has explained this to you already." Koenma said._

_"Oh, right... what about the demon?" Catherine asked._

_"I'm afraid that is a case I can't explain."_

_"But it concerns me, doesn't it?" Catherine asked._

_"More than you know." Koenma said bluntly. He then realized he spoke outloud and placed the paper on his desk to the side and pulled out another one, "But as you can see, I am very busy right now. You will be notifyed when it is your time to come back. Until then you are to go on as if nothing has happened." he said quickly._

_"But--"_

_Botan walked over towards Catheirne, scooting her from the back and shutting the door behind them. Once the door was shut, Koenma heaved a sigh, "That was too close."_

_"Sir?" the blue orge standing next to him asked._

_"The demon who has just escaped is Kemuri. He was sentenced murder to several humans, or so his record says." Koenma said._

_"But what does that have to do with her?" the orge asked._

_"That is because Kemuri is Catherine's biological father." Koenma said._

_

* * *

_

_

* * *

_

Japanese Words:

Kemuri: Smoke  
Kusari: Chain

* * *

Neko: End of Chapter 2. Comments people! Reviews! I've finally updated (confetti). This pc was being mean with me for making me have to retype it 'cause I couldn't save it when I finished some of it. Anways, I'll update the rest of my chapters, so please wait patiently for the weird changes to be fixed! 


	4. Ch 3: Caught by Surprise

**Neko:** Hey, neko-chan here! Chapter 2 was a huge twist and probably threw off my whole story a tad... it's not for sure that it will end exactly the same. Anyways, here's Chapter 3. Horay for new Chapter names!

* * *

Oh, I guess I missed a few Japanese words from the last chapter, well here they are as well as the new ones for this chapter. 

_Expressions/Greetings_

wakata: Understood (can be a question or statement; it's the short version... I'm not sure what the long version of it is)

Hai: Yes, yeah, sure, etc. (can be a question or statment)

Hajimemashite: How do you do?, I'm pleased to meet you, (etc.) (used when meeting someone for the first time)

_Colors_

Aka: Red (from 'Akako')

_Other_

Yasa: gentle (pref), affectionate

Yasashii: Gentle

Souhou: Touch

* * *

Chapter 3: Caught by Surprise 

"This is our new student, Catherine Akako." Mr. Iwamoto said.

Catherine bowed formally in front of the class, "Hajimeshite." she said. It seemed that Koenma had made some alterations when she arrived back into the Human World, probably to avoid confusion or suspision since the accident spreaded through the school to her surprise. The day she origionally came, she wore the girls' uniform, however since there was a bit of trouble that same day, she decided to change to the boy's uniform to avoid the same incident. Once Mr. Iwamoto had assigned her seat, she walked over towards the empty desk and sat down, placing her schoolbag onto the floor beside her chair. She rested her cheek onto her hand and sighed, unable to forget the previous day. It kept on replaying like a broken record, causing her to feel even more guilty than before.

* * *

_

* * *

"Hiei your shoulder's bleeding!" _

_"No thanks to her." he saidflatly as he tossed her carlessly towards the ground.

* * *

_

She burried her head into her arms she folded. _Damn, if I knew what was going onI would've just butted out! Not only did I let loose some demon, I nearly killed someone!_ Anger filled within her, hearing a voice inturrupting her, "Would you shut yer---" her rage fell once standing up violently only to see an irratated expression, "I-Iwamoto-sensei..." she said ending with a very soft sheepish laugh. She shrunk back into her desk and seemed to shrink with every word which seemed to sound more impatient coming from Mr. Iwamoto. He didn't seem to hold back even if she was 'the new student' since he had already given her a detention for 'causing an uproar and distrupting class'. She groaned silently when he gave her a _project_ to do after class. Oh what a fine day it was.

The petite koorime snorted silently as he watched from his post. Scolding seemed to have a great deal of affect to her even if she had a rash attitude. He had his fingers laced in the back of his head as he sat down on the tree branch. He watched her bury her head into her arms and smirked as the adult walked over, giving her a lecture of some sort. He frowned as he remembered his task that the toddler-king assigned him with.

_"Hiei, I need you to look after Catherine Akako."_

_"Didn't you say that she had nothing to do with the mission?"_

_"I only said that not to frighten or excite her. The demon that escaped might try to find her again. If he does, bring him back to Reikai."_

Damned toddler... when he could have been searching for the fire demon who was let loose, he was stuck babysitting an onna. Koenma had said that the other detectives could find the demon on their own, but he highly doubted that the foolish detective and the idiot sidekick could find a B-class demon. He then glanced back towards the window, chuckling as she stuck her tounge out behind the teachers back as he walked away. _So it didn't last long afterall,_ he thought.

* * *

Catherine walked down the sidewalk with a tired expression, "He kept me there for hours..." she mumbled. She stopped once she started to hear footsteps that didn't belong to her and swung her right fist to the 'stalker'. "Don't you basterds get tired of getting your ass kicked?" she yelled in rage. Once she saw a glimpse of the teenager's face Catherine's rage turned into shock. 

BONK! Kuwabara fell back once getting a fist hit into the face and rubbed his new large bump on his cheek. "What was that for?" he said half-dazed.

"Oh it's you guys..." Catherine said, still in a paused position once swinging her fist.

"Huh?" Yusuke and Kuwabara said dumbfounded.

_Oh that's right, Koenma made some weird alteration. So if someone met me before they don't remember me because of the accident._ "Sorry, my Japanese is horrible and I'm still getting use to it. My name is Catherine Akako." she said.

"Yusuke Urameshi." Yusuke said while pointing a thumb towards himself. He then pointed his thumb towards the still dazed Kuwabara, "And that block-head you just punched is Kuwabara."

"Hey I'm not a block-head!" Kuwabara yelled as he got up to his feet. "I just didn' see her because she's so small." he stated.

A vein started to pump on the temple of Catherine's head. She then pounced towards him, throwing fists towards him, however Yusuke grabbed her by the arms. Even so, she still tried to break loose, "Don't call me small you giant oaf! If you don'tkeep your mouth shut,I'll make sure to make you even more ugulier than you already are!" she threatened.

Kuwabara took a few steps back with a stunned expression from the sudden personality change. He was lucky that Yusuke was there to restrain her, however from the violent twists she gave it didn't seem that he could keep her in the arm-lock for long. If he had known she would have reacted so angrily, he would have kept his mouth shut.

"That's enough Catherine." a familiar voice said. Catherine stopped instantly and turned her head to see an elderly woman wearing a brown kimono. Her hair was gray and tied up in a bun with two chopsticks. Her eyes were closed, possibly since she was unable to see even if she did open her eyes. She stood to be half the size of Yusuke and possibly even a few inches shorter than Catherine. "O-obaa." she said startled.

"Sorry to cause any trouble. Catherine, _come_." the woman said. Although she seemed generous to the two teens, she gave a barking command to Catherine as if a lacky. Although it didn't seem like it, the old woman was doing it for the young girl's own good rather than to be a spoild brat with a bad attitude, though a kind and at least half-hearted child. Though she was doing all right, she still had a few rough edges that needed to be polished, a metaphor the woman used quite often when speaking to youngsters.

Yusuke blinked and released Catherine. He then stood by Kuwabara's side, both still dumbfounded. Catheirne looked towards the two and sighed. She then gave a fake smile, "This is my granny from my mother's side of the family." she said.

"Catherine I didn't ask for you to introduce me, I asked you to come. Your mother's waiting as well." the old woman said.

Catherine's fake smile turned to a sulked frown, "Fine." she mumbled with other uncomprihendable words. Catherine stiffened once the old woman turned her head, "What was that?"

"N-n-nothing..." Catherine said meekly.

* * *

Catherine stood up from her cushion she was sitting on and slammed her hands ontothelow table in front of her. The cups of tea rattled as the sudden violent action."WHAT?"she shouted in disbelif. She needed a replay button to play the scene at least half a dozen times to sink it through her head. Although she knew about the supernatural, she had never been personally trained. So why start now all of a sudden? That's what she'd like to know, since the only time she ever used powers was in Reikai. Other than that, she never once spilt a drop of energy out of her tiny body. 

Catherine's mother sighed exasperatedly, "Do I have to spell it out for you? Your grandmother is staying here for a few days to train you."

"Okay, define _train_. Is she gonna put me on a leash too?" Catherine asked sarcastically.

"Don't be absurd. Your reiki is easily traced; if I hadn't come at that time, someone else would have." the old-blind woman stated.

"Someone else?" Catheirne questioned.

"Demons." Kusari replied bluntly.

"De...mons?" Catherine repeated slowly. She kneeled back onto her cushion and placed her hands on her lap, waiting for one of them to explain. What she didn't understand why demons would be after her since she didn't think there was anything 'special' about her. She could barely even break loose from her mother's shackles and they were _still_ a pain.

"Yes, demons. That's why I'm going to teach you how to control your reiki; it's not easy and might take you months." the old woman said.

Catherine lowered her head and stared her cup of tea. Koenma had told her that she would be back in Reikai as soon as they found the demon she accidentally 'helped' to escape. She stood up from her cushion and headed towards her room, "I have homework..." she said in a voice no higher than a whisper. She remembered what Koenma had told her, but had never told anyone about it, not like she could. It would be a brilliant play, _Oh by the way, I'm suppose to be dead. But I get a chance to stay alive until a demon is caught and then I go back to heaven,_ she thought sarcastially. Yes that would be a fine conversation indeed. She didn't know what to be afraid of; her mother's wrath, or her sensitivity.

As Catherine left the room, the two women exchanged expressions of concern. "Maybe I should--"

"I think she might want to be alone. She rarely ever uses homework as an excuse to leave the room..." Kusari said.

* * *

The night passed and the sun rose, shining it's rays over the city. The dawn's rays hit through the window of Catherine's room. She covered her pillow over her head to block the sunlight and the banging coming from her door. She pressed the pillow closer to her head, trying to block out the sound as if refusing to get up. Little did she know that she was being watched by a new, yet familar face. He stood up on a tree, not too far from Catherine's window. His arms were laced loosely over his chest and leaned against the base of the tree. The man sighed however was slightly amused as a woman barged into the room, pulling Catherine out of her bed. The shades were closed by Catherine once the woman left the room. 

"Enjoying yourself?" a voice asked. He paused, with a startled expression, however relaxed his tensed body and peered over to see a familiar young man in a black cloak.

"Ah, I'm surprised you caught me so quickly Jaganshi." he said.

"Hn." he replied stiffly. Hiei had not expected the full-fledged fire apperation to be out in the open. He had only come to watch over his charge, however he would keep thatinformationto himself. He jumped off of the branch he was on and landed on the man's branch.

"Come to see the young lady?" the man asked, almost in a teasing voice. He chuckled as Hiei narrowed his eyes as he put his hand over his katana.

"Now, now there's no need for that." He said. He then sighed, "It's a shame, she'll be heading back to Reikai after just getting sent home. Not even able to enjoy herself." It didn't seem to have much affect to Hiei, assuming from his expression not changing. "But you woudn't care about what happens to her, would you?" Truthfully, Kemuri would never harm her. However he suspected that the koorime wouldn't know. A flame appeared within the old man's hand, almost giving Hiei a stunned expression, however he masked it with an angered expression.

"If you even lay a scratchon her and you'll have your head cut off." Hiei said.

"Is that so?" Kemuri questioned. "Then take good care of her." He said tauntingly as he released the fire-ball, throwing Hiei off guard. Kemuri materialized as Hiei headed for the fireball, however the fireball disappeared once Kemuri was gone. Hiei landed on the ground and looked back towards the empty tree, "Shit." he hissed.

* * *

Yasashii-souhou, the old woman, ("Yasa-obaa" for short) stood in front of a large boulder not too far from Catherine's house. Her fingers were laced behind her back, covered by her long sleeves from her kimono. The kimono was a rosy brown and had pink hibiscus patterns on the bottem of the skirt and on the back of the kimono with a cotten pink sash wrapped around firmly. Her hair was tied in a bun with chopsticks keeping them from falling over her wrinkled face. She watched as Catherine walked, covering her mouth as she yawned and pulled down her tight shirt. The shirt covered over Catherine's shoulders to her waiste, crossing over in a Chinese-style design, tucked under a pair of dark loose pants that swished as she walked. She haulted once she was a meter away from her grandmother and placed her hands into her pockets.

"All right, let's begin." Yasa-obaa said.

* * *

**Neko:** Okay that's it for Chapter 3. I'll get working on Chapter 4 right away. 


	5. Ch 4: Gentle Force and a Fierce Battle

**Neko:** (looks up) Oh hey! Yep, I'm finally updating my chapters and I've finally got a bit of inspiration... okay it's not really insperation but just plain old borness is really bugging me so I've decided to update and I'm finally back from my beach vaccation. As always, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, I just write for the heck of it.

**Kuwabara:** The translations are at the bottem of the page. Neko was just too lazy to do them at the beginning.

**Neko:** (flat stare) I was not lazy, I just didn't know if I was gonna use any Japanese translations at first.

**Yusuke: **Anyways, here's Chapter 4. Me and Kuwabara don't show up in this chapter.

**Kurama:** I finally show up in this chapter.

**Neko:** Yup, that's right fangirls. Kurama finally shows up in this chapter. Anways, let's wrap up this disclaimer. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 4: Gentle Force and a Fierce Battle 

_"Okay let's begin."_

It had been at least 3 hours since they had started, though there hadn't been much success. Yasu-obaa sighed exasperatedly and shook her head, "You're forcing it again. Relax."

Catherine stood with her legs spread out, her back bent forward at a 65oangle and faced a boulder. Her right arm stood out in front of her with her index and middle fingerparallel to eachother(the other 3 fingers were closed) while the other arm was behind her at a palm strike. Her body was surrounded with a dark gray aura that changed to a light silver but would flicker back at the same color.The auradisappeared after Catherine's eyes blurred and she fell forward to her knees,usingher hands for support. A few sweat droplettes fell from her forehead to her chin from stress of working too hard.

"I've been trying to relax for the past few hours." Catherine said. The boulder that once stood in front of her was now packs of dust particles laying on the ground. Her grandmother had used it as an example of how energy could be manipulated to use as their own power. Yasu-obaa had taught it to her once she had managed to control her chi.

* * *

_

* * *

Catherine dashed towards Yasu-obaa with a light pink aura that was compressed into an orb in her right hand. She threw the orb towards the old woman, but she went into a stance (the one Catherine was in while training) and absorb the aura orb. Her body was surrounded with a light silver aura the second she recieved the orb and turned touwards the boulder, hitting it witha simple tap of the same two fingers. "Onbin Chikara!"_

_Her aura released within the fingers and formed ripples of energy. Once the ripples released, the boulder dissolved into dust particles._

* * *

"I guess that's enough for the day." Yasu-obaa said. She started to walk and turned her head towards Catherine, "Coming?" she asked. 

Catherine shook her head, "I'm going to stay here for a while." she said.

"Hai." Yasu-obaa said. She presumed walking and headed towards the house, expecting there to be a cup of tea waiting for her.

Catherine waited for her to leave and stood up again in the same 90 degreese stance. There was still some chi locked inside of her and she wasn't going to put it to waste. She was probably going to be there for quite a while.

It had been an hour since her previous training with Catherine's obaa. She layed down on the ground, breathing unevenly and her arms and legs spread out. There was something she was missing within the technique. It must have been at least nine times out of seventeen until the boulder she had been praticing on finally crumbled, however didn't dissolve. As she gazed at the clouds, she could remember the first time that she had entered Reikai, not like it had been any different than what she had been doing for the last couple of days. She had trailed off in the hallway where she met the demon and had without even realizing it, she had absorbed the reiki of the cage. What triggered it when she released it? There had to be some kind of connection. If she could absorb wanaki, she could release it. Catherine gave a determined expression as she stood up to her feet and stood in the same 90 degreese stance.

She breathed slowly, eyes shut; the dark aura appeared around her however changed into a smokey gray, slightly lighter than the silver but flickering into a light pink ever so often until it was a color of timber-gray. She opened her eyes and the energy started to make it's way to her fingertips. As that happened, she charged towards a boulder slightly bigger than the other dissolved one and pressed her fingertips against the rock. "Onbin Chikara!"

The aura released and formed ripples of energy like Yasu-obaa, however they started to wobble and loose form. The rock broke into smaller pieces unlike the last time, but she was still unable to dissolve the boulder. She collapsed onto her back and breathed heavily. The technique came out well, however there was something that wasn't quite right. Something had been bothering her from the very start of her training, but she couldn't pin point on what it was. Was it something nearby?

Hiei sat on a tree branch not too far from her with his legs streched out. His fingers were laced behind his head used as a pillow since the tree was not as confortable, but he learned to adapt with it. She was still at it, though her form was terrible, from what he could tell the difference between watching her and the old woman. He shut his eyes, sighing as he heard gentle footsteps creeping towards his post.

"What do you want kitsune?" he asked with a low tone.

Standing beside the tree was a young teenager with long red hair that reached to his back and stuck out ina short-cut wave. Although he looked quite feminine with the long curls, he was male. He was known as Suichi Minamino to his peers, classmates and mother; a polite and kind young man. To his friends of the Reikai Tentai and demons, he was known as Kurama, the former King of Thives from Makai. The teen curved his lips into a small smile and peered his emerald eyes towards the fire koorime."So you knew I was here after all."

"Hn." was Hiei's reply.

"I was told by Koenma to check up on you." Kurama stated.

Hiei narrowed his eyes towards the kitsune as if saying "Tell me the truth or else."

"I felt an unfamiliar aura in this area. I guess it belonged to her." Kurama said as he looked towards Catherine. "How long has she been out here?"

"Too long. If she keeps this up, she'll ware herself out giving any stupid demon a chance to kill her." he retorted.

"You almost sound as if you were worried." Kurama said, still keeping a curved smile.

Hiei gave the kitsune cold eyes, "She's my _charge_. I could care less if she gets herself killed off again."

Catherine pulled herself up, still breathing heavily. "Damn..." she said under her breath. She looked around the area; there were no more boulders around and she was completely out of the wanaki she had absorbed. She swung her head as she heard something in the bushes. She walked towards the bushes cautiously and slowly however paused completely as something jumped out _attacking_ her. Catherine fell back as an old husky, or so she assumed it to be, landed on top of her. Shetried pulling off the manging beast however it yelped once she held contact with its front leg.

She sat up slowly, not moving him and looked to the side and saw that his leg waas badly injured. The wolf stepped back, however yelped from the pain and bent down. Catherine leaned foward slowly, reaching her hand towards the hound. Bad move. The wolfsnapped his jaw onher hand and didn't seem to let go of it unless he rip itoff. The wolf's ears pirked up once hearing the bushes from behind him shake. He let go of Catherine's hand and turned around, growling at the bushes.

Hiei looked up and narrowed his eyes, standing up on the branch, and removed the bandage covering his hidden eye which glowed as it opened. _Someone's there_, he thought. He jumped from his tree to the training area, lifting Catheirne on his shoulder and wrapped his arm on the mutt and jumped again into another tree, just barely dodging the reiki that was sent towards them. The wolf squirmed in Hiei's arm, trying to break loose however yelped from his injured leg. Hiei winced his eye from the mutt's squirming; his shoulder must have not healed completely but he wouldn't let that stop him. He placed Catherine on the branch, "Don't move from here." he said sharply before jumping off to the floor. Catherine got hold of the wolf just before he tried to jump off after Hiei, however the mutt protested.

"Well, well. If it isn't the Forbidden Child. Unfortunately, you are not who I am looking for. Stand aside." a voice said as he walked out from the bushes. It was hard to tell his identity since he was cloaked and wore a mask. Walking beside him was a maple-coated coyote.

((_"That's the damned bastard that attacked me!"_)) the wolf hissed.

Catherine looked towards the wolf, ((_"He attacked you?"_))

The wolf looked back towards Catherine, ((_"You can understand me?"_)) he asked in almost disbelif.

Catherine nodded, ((_"Word for word. Now then, who is this creep?"_))

((_"He's the head of a coyote-pack. His name is Kiiro. The coyote is his assistant, Momiji."_))

((_"Why did he attack you?"_)) Catherine asked.

((_"It's most likely because of the Eiki Tournament that's coming up... some of our clan members disappeard. Half of them were members already designated for the teams, others were just for randsom... one of my pups were one of the few."_))

((_"In other words, they're either trying to get you to surrender before the tournament and just to be sure, they kidnapped half of your clan so you'd loose?"_))

((_"Well, basically yes."_))

"Damn cowards..." Catherine muttered.

Momiji looked up to the branch, ((_"Hey Kiiro-sama, the brat is calling us cowards, shall I do anything?"_))

((_"Do as you wish with her, however leave the mutt out of it. I want to deal with him personally._))

The wolf nodded, ((_"Wakata."_)) The wolf trotted off towards the right and stopped a yard away from Catherine and the wolf's tree. The coyote shut her eyes, concentraiting her youki and growled once she was focoused. Her body grew three sizes bigger as well as sprouting four more tails beside her white-tipped tail. Her fangs grew a few inches longer and reached to her bottem lip and an amber aura surrounded her. ((_"Let's have some fun, old geezer."_))

Hiei looked over towards Momiji and leaned towards her direction, however he stopped once Kiiro was blocking the direction, "I will be your opponent for now, Forbidden Child."

Hiei narrowed his red-wine eyes, "I have no time to mess with a third-rate ookami." he said.

Kiiro sighed, "How little you know of breeds... I am a coyote, not a wolf. Even the old fool Kuro knows this."

((_"Damn bastard I'm no older than you are!"_)) he growled to Kiiro.

((_"Pay attention to your own opponent, Kuro-ojiisan."_))

((_"What'd you call me you damned vixin? I dare you to say that again!"_))

((_"Kuu-roh-oo-jii-san!"_)) Momiji said in a slow, taunting voice.

Kuro growled angrily and started to jump, however Catherine held him back. She stood up and jumped from the tree to the ground, ((_"You said you were to leave Kuro alone, remember? I'm your opponent."_))

((_"I admit, you have guts going against someone twice your size, girl."_))

Catherine's hand balled up into a fist, ((_"Don't act so damn high and mighty just 'cause you're over-sized."_))She charged towards Momiji, lunging her arm towards back and punched the coyote. Without realizing it,Momiji's aurasurroundedCatherine'sfist andflashed into a light silver aura. Once it changed colors, it faded.

Hiei looked towards Catherine, however looked back toKiiro who swung his wakizashi, however blocked the attack with his katana. Kiiro stepped back when Hiei swung his katana towards his shoulder and missed just barely ending up with a scratch. "What is your motive?" Hiei asked as the two distanced themselves by a few feet.

"That's confidential information to outsiders such as yourself and the brat."

"Then I have no choice. _Mortal Flame!_" A black flame surrounded his fist with a dark violet aura surrounding it and he swung the flamed fist towards Kiiro into his abdomen and sent him flying into a tree, which snapped in two, alarming Kurama who ducked out of the way and into the fighting scene, "Hiei be more careful where you send your opponents." he said.

"I thought you fleed." Hiei stated, almost with a mocking tone.

Both youkai whipped their heads towards Catherine and the now over-sized coyote, who pinned her onto a tree. The nails in her paws pierced into Catherine's chest, making her hiss in pain. ((_"This is over before it started, brat."_))

It was Momiji's turn to hiss once feeling thorns wrapped around her five tails which had started to curve into points. She looked back to see a red-haired teenager with a green-thorned whip in his hand. "Release her." he said.

Momiji growled, apparently not doing as told since she pressed her paws deeper into Catherine's chest, which caused Kurama to pull tighter on the Rose Whip. Momiji growled in pain and yelped when Catherine set her index and middle fingerwhich had a silver aura surroundingthem and placedthemonto Momiji's forehead. Momiji was sent into Kiiro's direction and landed on top of him as he stood up, causing him to fall back again. Momiji was now back into her aura-less and small coyote form. Kiiro stood back up, hoisting Momiji over his shoulder and glared towards the opponents with a half-broken mask covering his face, revealing a golden eye, "I won't forget this." he said before he dematerialized.

Hiei cursed under his breath once he put his katana back into his case as he looked back towards Catherine who had fell unconsious, possibly because of strain of energy. Her blue shirt was torn with claw marks and her right hand was gushing out blood from the bite from the wolf. He walked towards her, however stopped, feeling another presence and turned, yet again holding onto the handle of his katana, however relaxed once he saw it was only the old woman who was previously training with Catherine.

"I'd like to say that you two may leave now, however it's too much troublesum for an old woman to carry a large wolf and an unconcious teenager." Yasa-obaa said.

Kurama nodded as Hiei gave an infamous "Hn." They walked towards the two and bent down, Hiei carrying Catherine on his back, and Kurama carrying the wolf in his arms. The two walked over towards the old woman who lead the two towards the house with her arms folded behind her back and a proud smile across her face. _My granddaughter was able to master that technique in just one day... this training will be very interesting_, the woman thought.

_

* * *

_

Okay, that's it for Chapter 4, hope you enjoyed! Here are the translations like I said I would!

_Other_

Onbin: Gentle

Chikara: Force

Chi: Energy (not specifically spirit energy)

Reiki: Spirit Energy

Youki: Demon Energy

Wanaki: "Wana" means "trap". So wanaki literally means "Trapped Energy"

Katana: long sword

Wakizashi: Short sword (脇差 is the kanji for wakizashi and it it stands for "side arm"). It's longer than a Kodachi (short sword/daggar) but shorter than a katana.

_Worlds_

Reikai: Spirit World

Makai: Demon World

Ningenkai: Human World

_People/Animals_

Ojii-san: Old timer/grandfather (it is very insulting if not used correctly; oji-san is different and means "uncle" or can be used to address a young man who is over 25 and possibly middle-aged)

Ningen: Human

Reikai Tantei: Spirit World Detectives

Ookami: Wolf

Eiki: Phases of Moon

_Colors_

Kiiro: Yellow

Momiji: Maple (yes, I know that it's the same name as Momiji from Fruits Basket, but I wanted to name the coyote and wolf clan membersby colors)


	6. Ch 5: Lack of Sleep

**Disclaimer: I don't think I've done this in a while, though I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Just the plotline and the Origional Characters (my made ups).**

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**Neko**: Hey everyone, chapter updates might be a little bit slower 'cause school has already started for me and I just got a ton'a books...

**Yusuke**: Then just ditch.

**Neko:** I can't do that! If I do, not only would I not be able to go onto the CPU, I might not even get to play my videogames! Anyways, here's chapter 5. Oh! For those of you who have already read my fanfiction, I'm editing it, just so it makes more sense and it's not all choppy like before. I 'unno how much my writing skills have improved, but don't be afraid to comment (please don't be too brutal)!

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Chapter 5: Nebusoku (Lack of Sleep)

Catherine awoke whailing a loud sneeze and sat up in a familiar atmosphere. With lazy, half-opened eyes, she gazed across a room she had seen every day and night. _My room?,_ she thought as she laced her unwrapped fingers into her long hair, scratching her head. It took her moments to realize that her hair was down and she wore a black tank top which hung over her shoulders which was tucked into black sweat pants. She became more alert once she heard some voices and walked out of bed, still sore. Most of the pain had came from her chest, which was wrapped up all the way to her stomach from the scratches of the coyote demon that attacked. She opened the door of her room and walked out slowly through the hallway. There were four rooms which alligned to eachother and one directly in front of her. Beside that door was an openening which curved to her right and stopped at the corner, peeking her head into the living room, though not enough for her to be seen.

"How is Catherine?" Kusari asked.

"She's fine, she doesn't have any serious injuries but she shouldn't continue training for a while." Kurama replied.

Kusari nodded in relif. "I see. And you two are...?" After 'inspecting' the red-haired teenager she glanced towards Hiei, who was leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. The teenager seemed to not have any weapons, however Hiei had his katana, and aparantally a third eye from what she could tell by the violet aura on his forehead. Her strength was not only her invisible chains, but also 'scouting' for anything demonic or spiritual.

"My name is Suichi Minamino and his name is Hiei."

"I am Catherine's mother, Elina Akako." she replied.

Technically, she wasn't lying. Like Catherine, Eline was Kusari's surename before she was given her family name. She never gave out her family name except to relatives, as did everyone in their family.

She then redirected her view towards the wolf who curled on the carpet in the center of the room. His head lifted and he glanced, sniffing a familair scent by the corner of the hallway. Kusari turned towards the wolf's view point and saw a few strands of hair flow behind the wall and sighed while she gave an downward gesture of her index finger. As she wagged her finger, Catherine came down with a loud thud with her arms tied behind her back. She struggled to break free from the damned chains, however the invisible energy kept her locked down.

Suichi and Hiei glaced towards the struggling teenager, sensing energy around her that was not her own. Suichi then looked back towards Kusari with curious eyes.

"Don't worry about her, she'll come around eventually." Kusari said.

"_Eventually_!" Catherine echoed sarcastically. She pulled herself up, using her previous methods and stomped her way over beside her and could see humor written all over her mother's face who was trying to mask it with sincerity while Yasu-obaa sighed and shook her head in disapproval. "Catherine, you need to know how to break the chains sooner or later. Sooner would be better."

"I'd be glad to! But there's this thing called--mmfnb." Catherine muffled her words once she felt a new weight added onto the chains, falling down to the ground face first.

"Anyway, what's the story with this old mutt?" Kusari asked as the wolf growled warningly.

"_Ookami-youkai. _His name is Kuro, leader of some wolf clan." Catherine said as she tried to seperate her arms from her back. No prevail so far.

((_"The clan's name is Mika! As in the New Moon!"_)) the wolf snarled.

"Ah, my bad." Catherine said. "Mika is the clan's name."

Kusari heaved a sigh, pointing her index finger towards Catherine and waved it upwards, retreating the chains. The sudden release caused Catherine to fall backwards, "Aye! Gim'me a warning when you're gonna do that!" she complained.

Kusari said nothing but walk towards the hallway, grabbing Catherine by the shoulder without a word. She lead her down the hallway and stopped at the end. "Catherine, since when have you been able to understand what demons say?" she asked.

Catherine gave a blank expression of confusion and gave the first thing that came to mind. "Ehhh?"

"The wolf, dear. You said he was an ookami-youkai."

"What does that have to do with me speaking to a wolf?" Catherine questioned.

Kusari put her fingers on the temple of her head. Why did she have to manage such a dense child? "It's not common for humans or psychics to speak to demons in the demon tounge."

"Wha? I've been speaking a different language?" Catherine asked surprised.

"You haven't noticed?" Kusari asked.

Catherine shook her head, "I can barely speak Japanese mom, how am I suppose to know if I'm speaking the right language or not?"

-----

((_"Stupid is what I call it."_)) the wolf said bluntly.

Both Hiei and Kurama glanced towards the old wolf. If he had been in a human form, he'd be smirking at his own statement. He turned around, facing the two.

((_"That girl's got demon blood in her all right and she doesn't even know it. If she were one 'o my pups, I'd tell her from the start instead of keeping secrets, it's too much of a hassel to keep up with for not telling someone who they really are. Yeah, don't act like you can't hear me, I can smell your demon blood too. Right now they're discussing the matter and the hanyou didn't even realize that she was speaking our language. There's also a lotta human blood on her too... It's old and faint, but there's definately the smell of blood on her hands."_))

Hiei looked back towards the window; curiosity fell through his mind. Why would she have scents of human blood on her? His concentration broke once Catherine and her mother as they returned into the room. He peered towards her, however shot his eyes back towards the window once Catherine glanced towards him. An eyebrow raised in confusement from the partially naive pscyhic and glanced back towards the wolf who waved a paw upward as a gesture of greetings.

Kurama stood up and bowed, "Well, I must be going. My mother might start to worry if I don't go home anytime soon." he stated. He then glanced towards Hiei and he walked towards the kitsune, slightly cautious when passing towards the wolf.

"Ah, too bad. I think my granddaughter was starting to like you two." Yasa-obaa said with a wry smile.

"Obaa!" Catherine said. Her cheeks flustered at the sudden remark and glowed even darker when Hiei glanced towards her, though she turned away, with her back facing them. She then started to walk off, heading into the hallway.

The old woman chuckled and bowed towards the two, "Thank you for your help earlier." she said.

Kurama nodded and strolled out of the house, followed by Hiei. Once the door shut, Catherine heaved a relieved sigh, leting her tension ease and poked her head out like earlier, but more noticable. "I'm going to go train--"

"Not until those wounds heal. You can do something else that doesn't include athletic abilities for now." Yasa-obaa said.

"Careful Yasa-obaa, don't use big words around her." Kusari said. A stuck-out tounge was her reply from the stubborn teenager who stomped her way out of the living room, followed by her wolf companion. Catherine slammed the door shut behind her, giving a sulking expression across her face. "Hmph... _they're_ the ones who started to bring me into this training mess... now they say I can't even wiggle my finger." she complained under a heaved breath.

((_"Those were some pretty nasty cuts though. I'm surprised you even managed to get out of there alive."_)) Kuro said.

Catherine narrowed her eyes towards the hound, ((_"Gee, well you're one to talk you old-timed wolf."_))

((_"I AM NOT OLD!"_)) Kuro howled.

((_"Could'a fooled me. You had your tail between your legs the whole time. Old wolf."_))

The wolf growled towards the teenager and pounced towards the psychic.

"YEEOOOOW!"

-----

Later that evening, Kuro peeked an eye open and sat up from the rug he slept on. He walked slowly beside Catherine's bed, checking to see if the teen was still asleep; as he came to her side of the bed, she turned the opposite direction (both of her hands were now wrapped from the 'incident'). He slowly made his way from the bed and headed towards her window, climbing through the small opening and jumped off to the ground, making a loud _THUD!_ The old wolf forced himself not to yelp, probably since he would wake up the sleeping psychics; he had no idea if they were heavy sleepers, but he begged all kami that they didn't hear his escape. He scurried into the forest, walking past the wide area the teen was praticing her technique and continued to follow a narrow path, however stopped once he heard a familiar voice.

((_"Ya'nno it's dangerous to walk late at night without a guard."_))

Kuro looked from left to right, however saw no one in the area. He then looked upwards and nearly collapsed as he saw Catherine hanging from her legs on the tree with a grin across her face. He nearly yelped from the shock, however clamped his snout shut before he made a peep. He continued to walk through the forest, ignoring the 'company' until he found himself in a vast area. ((_"I'm not'a puppy, so go home. I can take care of myself you know?"_))

((_"I'll agree you're no puppy, you're too old and cranky--"_))

((_"I AM NOT OLD!"_)) Kuro howled.

((_"Kuro-ojiisan? Is that you?"_)) an unfamiliar voice called.

Kuro's ears pirked up and Catherine jumped down from her tree post, standing beside the old ookami. A young female wolf appeared from the bushes and Catherine gave a wry grin, ((_"Your girlfriend?"_)) she questioned in a teasing voice. The wolf gave an exasperated sigh, ignoring the comment, and walked up to the young wolfling.

((_"Keihi-san, I'm glad you're all right."_)) he said in a calm, more elderly voice. From Catherine's point of view, she couldn't hear much from the distance of the two as they talked. The female wolf had light tan fur and her nose was a dull red, which gave her the name "Keihihana".

((_"Kuro-ojiisan, half of our teams for the Eiki Tournament have either been badly injured or captured. I was sent from the clan to send you the message that we need more team members."_)) she explained. She then gave a cuerious glance to Catherine, twitching her nose as she felt an unfamiliar scent. Was this the scent of a human?

((_"Nevermind the girl, Keihi-san. How many of the teams were captured?"_))

Catherine looked at the two wolves with her arms comfortably crossed across her chest. A small snapping sound--- most likely coming from a twig--- caught Catherine's attention. She could have swarn that she saw someone within the shadows of the trees, though they didn't come forth. _'It's probably just a squirrel or something...' _Catherine thought to herself.

A vein grew within the bandages of the Jaganshi, _A squirrel?_ he thought irrtatedly.

Catherine looked back towards the two wolves once she heard Kuro call for her. She walked over, half-obediently, then stopped once she was a meter away from them. ((_"Yeah?"_)) she asked.

((_"First, let me introduce you to a pup of the clan. This is Kehihana-- she perfers to be called Kehi. Anyway, we're at a tight budget and it seems we'll be needing your services."_)) Kuro explained.

Catherine twisted an eyebrow upward. ((_"Services?"_)) she questioned.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: I realized in my previous chapter that there were two nicknames for obaa-san. It's suppose to be Yas**a**-obaa not Yas**u**-Obaa. The difference?

Yasu: Quiet

Yasa: Gentle

Plus, I might be saving the other one for a specific character I had in mind... Sorry for the cliff hanger, though I'll add on in my next chapter, as always.

Anyways, here are the japanese terms. (the names are obviously NOT Japanese, buuuuut I just thought it'd be neat to add those...). Sorry for the cliff-hanger, though you'll just have to stick around to find out what happens next.

_Name Meanings_

Elina: Pure

Catheirne: Pure

_People/Animals_

Ookami: Wolf

_Other_

Youkai: Demon

Mika: New Moon

Keihi: Cinnamon

Hana: Nose, Flower


	7. Ch 6: Unexpected Tactics

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho so get off my back! I only own this spiffy plot and the non-canon characters.**

**_Previous Chapter(s) Updates:_**

Chapter 1: has been updated!

_

* * *

_Chapter 6: Fuki Saiku (Unexpected Tactics) 

"Absolutly not." Kusari said sternly.

Catherine dropped into a chair with an unhopeful sigh. It had been ten minutes since Kuro, Keihihana and Catherine had left the forest and it was only a matter of seconds when Catherine's mother caught her sneaking through the window. Kusari wore a black and silky robe, covering her shoulders to half-way between her knees and thighs. _'I should have known better.'_ the woman thought. It didn't look like Catherine was just about to give up either. The two ookami had requested for Catherine's help, though her mother did not give her blessings for the teen even before she had a chance to explain the situation.

"But--" Catherine began, though her mother cut her off, "No means _no_. You were nearly killed today and I won't have you about protecting---of all the things--- wolves."

"It's not like I haven't died before..." Catherine mumered. She then realized what she had said and waved her hands defensively as Kusari's eyes widened. "Figure of speech... though I guess it's pronounced differently in Japanese." she said quickly. Her tense body relaxed as her mother sighed exasperatedly.

Neither of them seemed to be willing to give up, from what the wolves could tell. They watched as the two psychics debated about the subject. Kuro yawned as he arched in a streching position and layed on the ground. It'd been his first time actually seeing a mother and daughter bicker but he didn't seem to be fully interested, just hoped that they still had a chance to have supervisors. He glanced over towards Keihi, who was sitting up as she continued to watch. She glanced over towards him with disbelif, though the ojii-ookami gestured his head slightly, meaning everything would be all right. It didn't look like things were going well to her point of view.

"No is still no." Kusari said, once again in a stern voice. With that, Kusari left the room and stalked off to her own room.

((_"Nope. No can do; when my mom says no, she means it."_)) Catherine said to the two wolves.

((_"S'not your fault."_)) Kuro said.

((_"It looks like we'll be loosing the tournament afterall. With only three teams and no support, it's hopless."_)) Keihi sighed.

((_"It can't be _that_ bad... maybe we're just missing an oppurtunity."_)) Catherine said.

"Already got yourself into trouble I see." a slightly familar voice said.

Catherine sprung up from her chair, glancing around the room until she spotted a rather tall, young adult. Odd enough, he had a pacifire in his mouth, much like Koenma's, and seemed to dress similar to him. Short, shaggy-brown hair covered over his forhead, though the letters of "Jr." were still legable. A red sash wrapped on top of his shoulders, giving him a somewhat royal essence. Most of his clothes matched the blue bib in his mouth along with black shoes. His eyes matched his hair color, though seemed sharper but with amusment twinkling in his iris' as she gaped at him.

"And who gave you premission to come in here? OUT!" Catherine said, oblivious to who this 'stranger' was.

"Is that any way to speak to the Prince of Spirit World, Catherine?" the young adult questioned.

"Spirit World? ... Then..._ Koenma_!"

"As Botan would put it, _Bingo_." Koenma replied.

"But-but how? I mean, you're still a pacifire-sucking... but... but..." Catherine spluttered. Two plus two just didn't seem to agree with her at the moment. She rubbed her eyes lightly, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She watched him chuckle in amusement, though calmed down before he continued.

"This is my Human World appearence." he said. "Anyways, I came here to check up on how you were doing. From what Hiei has mentioned, you've been in quite the trouble."

((_"It's my fault she got into this, don't blame it on her."_)) the wolf said.

Koenma glanced towards the wolf, appearing to not understand what Kuro had just stated. The wolf stood up on his lower legs-- as he did, his snout, tail, and ears sunk into his fur (though it wasn't fur anymore but wrinkled flesh) and his paws grew into fingers. He appeared to be an old man at 6'4" with a black and silver beard as well as gray hair with hints of black. A chinese-style long sleeved shirt hung over his shoulders, tucked into matching pants. His feet were bare.

Standing beside him, Keihi changed as well, but into a young teenager slightly older than Catherine. Her bob-cut hair was a blonde clolor with hints of cinnamon and her eyes were a piercing green. A tight, gray long-sleeved shirt hid under her black short sleeved shirt, hanging above a pair of black jeans. Black and white sneakers-- with white ankle socks inside--- covered her feet. She was dressed more casually than Kuro and seemed to like tight clothing.

"As I was saying, it's not Catherine's fault that she got into this mess." Kuro said.

Catherine stared at the two in awe and astonishment. Although she had been in a psychic family, she had never seen anyone transform before; it would take a bit of getting use to.

"And you are...?" Koenma questioned.

"Kuro, of the Mika Clan." he replied.

"Ah yes, the Eiki Tournament is suppose to begin in a few months, isn't it?" Koenma questioned.

"Eiki Tournament?" Catherine asked.

"So, you haven't explained the rules to Catherine yet?" Koenma asked.

"No, not yet. You see, some of our clan members are either missing or have been badly injured. We're down to five teams." Kuro explained.

"Seven? That's not that bad, is it?" Catherine questioned. Clearly, she didn't know much about tournaments.

"Seven, out of our twenty." Keihi replied.

"_Twenty_?" Catherine breathed.

"That's not much compaired to the previous Dark Tournament." Koenma said.

"Anyways..." Kuro began, "... the Eiki Tournament is named after _phasing moons._ It starts on every new moon and the tournament ends after three new moons have passed. The thing is, only clan members from either our clan--- Mika-- and the other clan, Mangetsu can be participants. The only acceptions are if one of either clan's members are injured are unable to fight, we are allowed substitutions but they must be of Ookami, Inu, or Mai blood---"

"Why's that?" Catherine asked.

"You see, our clan and their clan have been in a feud for a few centuries--" Catherine dropped her jaw "-- yes quite a brutal feud, ne ojii-san?" Keihi finished and glanced over towards Kuro.

"I myself was a participant of that war, and Keihi was born at the beginning of the war. She's actually older than she looks---"

"You're one to talk." Catherine said. She then realized what she had said and raised her hands defensively, "Go on, go on."

"--- as I was saying, after several years, the Spirit World king, Enma, had proposed a tournament to end the feud. It would be every thirty years and it would ease our tension. Though the new clan bastard from Mangestu had been sending his clan members to sabotage our members and there are too many to have substitutions, which brings us to the rules. Each team is allowed 8 members and is set a time by the moon phases, don't know why but the system seems to work. Each clan is allowed no more than twenty teams and no less than nine. If some sort of miracle happens, we don't have a chance. Basically there's no killing or poisoning which is basically why there are no acception of other apperations, it's because ookami, mai and inu don't kill their own kind or cousins. Other than that, there are no other rules except don't fight dirty."

"So, you'd need three more teams?" Catherine questioned.

"Yeah, and we haven't had any luck searching for relative clans. They didn't agree with the tournament from the start and it doesn't look like we'll find any recruiters soon." Kuro said.

"Ever thought of getting some healers or something?" Catherine asked.

"We have, though where on Earth are we going to find healers?" Keihi said, doubtfully.

"My obaa had mentioned that we have some psychic healers in our family. A few of them went off to... I think it was America... to study at medical collages. Ten percent of our family are psychic healers, though three percent of them are the ones studying at the collages." Catherine said. "If I could just get my mom's blessing to let me... well, _us _go. I'm sure she'd reason if I had a few family members go."

"I'll explain the matter to her. For now, just sit tight." Koenma said.

"She's not easy to break once she's set her mind." Catherine warned.

Koenma smirked under his pacifire, "And just who do you think you're talking to?"

------

Two weeks had passed--- every morning starting with a debate though Catherine's pleads were declined--- and since she had healed quickly, she was able to presume training. She had also gained some tips from Kuro-sensei and Keihi-sempai. Catherine had finally caved in with the stubborn thought that 'honorifics are useless' from somewhat threats of getting her hands bitten again. Kuro gazed at the teenage form of Keihi and Catherine, in his wolf form, as he examined the two while he began with the 'lesson'. To his surprise, Catherine would have made a better wolf demon, than whatever demon she was-- he still hadn't figured it out, since he was always inturrupted with an annoying inturruption through his thougs-- though she did lack in defense, but had a great offense if she could control it.

((_"Stop! Catherine, you're doing it again. Can't you even block? That was pathetic!"_)) Kuro snarled.

((_"It's not my fault! You're making me use sheer flesh and won't even let me use a drop of power!"_)) Catherine protested.

((_"I'm teaching you how to guard without using that magic-what'chya-ma-call-it! If you can guard, you won't **need** that power and can store it for an offense!"_)) he growled.

Keihi sighed in exasperation, '_They're at it again... I honestly don't know how Kuro-ojiisan can keep up with this..._' she thought. She watched as Catherine walked out of the training feild and walked over towards Kuro with an aggrivated expression. Keihi also couldn't understand how she could dress in the riddiculous garnments. It looked too traditional, or at least that was Keihi's opinion-- a royal blue Jiaoling Youren ("Crossed collars, tying to the right." ) shirt- the sleeves were a different type of material, more smooth than the Jiaoling Youren and were white, but the cuffs were blue and wide. Underneath the Jaioling Youren was a black T-shirt which was tucked into royal blue pants which were tight at the waste, but loose at the ankles. Keihi also thought that Catherine's black shoes were a little odd as well.

((_"It's not magic! It's Wanaki!"_)) Catherine said.

((_"Whatever! Just get back to training! Remember, no energy!"_)) Kuro said.

"Associating with ookami, Rine-san? I always thought you were a peculiar member of the Akako branch." a voice said.

Catherine widened her eyes as she felt arms coming from behind. Without warning, Catherine spun and attacked the person from behind with a tight fist. To her astonishment, the blow didn't effect him at all, though she should have known. "Shiromi Shouheki-san." she breathed. This was the last of the Shiromi branch she had wanted to see. His pale lips wryed into a smirk, which did not suit his ebony hair and sharp gray eyes. He was much taller than Catherine and had only managed to punch one of his livers, but the barrier around him cancled her strength. She retreated her fist and gave a glare, "I thought Shiromi and Akako were not to approach eachother without a shaperone." she said cooly.

"Indeed, my shaparone is here. Though Kusari-obasan had been so kind as to invite eleven of the Shiromi branch members today. Seven of the Kawaki members and three more of the Akako branches are coming soon as well. Strange, most of them are healers. You haven't been in any trouble now, have you?"

She slapped his hand as it approached her cheek-- or even more surprisingly, she spotted Hiei gripping Shouheki's wrist with a glare cold enough to freeze the surface of the bare Earth. He released Shouheki's hand as a woman approached them.

"Shouheki-san that's enough. Gomen nasai Rine-san, I would have came sooner if I knew where Shouheki had run off to." she said. Her hair was short, and like most of the members was in a shade of black. Her hazy brown eyes were full of concern and anger as she glanced towards Shouheki who gave a wince as she placed a tight grip onto his shoulder and lead him to the house. Hiei watched with warning eyes.

Catherine opened her mouth to say something, but Keihi inturrupted, "Ne, Catherine-san, shouldn't you go and see what's going on? They are your family afterall." she stated. Catherine looked back towards Keihi and hesitated a moment. She then nodded shortly and left, hesitatingly arriving in her home. The living room was packed, though if it weren't for the extra room they had, it would be very stuffy and clustered.

"Rin-neechyan!" a voice called. The voice was too familiar to Catherine, since she grabbed Aiko by the back of her shirt as she was close to pouncing onto Catherine. Naomi followed behind, quietly and gave a short bow, "Konnichiwa, Rin-neechan." she said quietly.

"Rin-neechyan you finally caught me! Ne, ne. Is it true that you started training?" Aiko asked.

"Yes, that is the rumor everyone's spreading. Rine-san, it's been a while." another voice said. The voice came from a young woman-- to Catherine's guess, she must have been at least a little older than Keihi, in appearence-- with brown hair and charcoal eyes. She wore a buisness-like suit, which must have meant she had just left from a meeting.

"Ah, Utsumi Kawaki-san, was it?" Catherine questioned.

"Ara, ara. Using honorifics? Last time I saw you, you said they were useless." she said. Though, she hadn't said it to be rude, more of a rememberance.

Catherine gave a short shrug, though remembered she still had Aiko clutched in her hand so she released the youngling. As Aiko touched the ground, she sprinted off, grabbing Naomi's hand, more entergetic than ever. Catherine then looked up to the small crowd; it was odd to see so many people at the same time at her home.

"Why _is_ everyone here?" Catherine mumered.

"Ah, you don't know? Kusari-neesama called the family branches. Most of them are Shiromi since they aren't quite as busy as Kawaki and Akako. She didn't explain why everyone's here though, I suspect we'll find out." Utsumi explained.

"Why are the Kawaki and Akako branches busy?"

Utsumi gave a hesitant answer, "... Kawaki is trying to find something while the Akako branch are trying to search for someone..."

Catherine blinked, though before she could ask anymore, the voices died down and seemed to be focused in a cerain direction. Catherine tried stepping up on her toes to see what was going on, but as she figured, they were too clustered. '_And just too damn tall_.' she thought at the back of her mind.

"Good, it seems almost everyone was able to come. I'd like to introduce you to Kuro-san, Keihihana-san and Koenma-sama." Kusari said.

There were silent mumers as Koenma's name was mentioned, though the voices soon died down as Koenma stepped up. Apparentally, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama and Hiei were behind him (though Catherine couldn't see them).

"Thank you for coming. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the situation, I will explain what is going on. Kuro-san will fill in the extra details if needed." Koenma said.

Catherine knew the situation all too well, though she wonderd how Koenma managed to get an approval from her mother. '_She wouldn't have just given in so easily... so why..._'

"Rine-san, Koenma-sama want's a word with you. He's at the back of the house." Utsumi said.

Catherine looked up to Utsumi, snapping out of thought, and then nodded shortly. Apparently, her thoughts had drifted away while the details were being explained. She would have to find out how Koenma persuaded Kusari some other time. Catherine sighed as she walked through the clustered room and headed towards the glass door, opened it, and closed it as she was on the pattio. She looked around, not seeing anyone. '_He must be near my sparring spot._' she thought. She continued to walk on the trail that lead from her pattio to a vast area where she had been training with her Obaa-san and with Kuro-sensei. Her eyes widened as she saw Yusuke and Kuwabara, who both gave sheepish grins. "What are you two doing here?" she asked.

"Catherine--- no it's Rine-san, right? I'd like you to meet the Spirit Detectives. They will be guarding you as well as the others that will be at the tournament. Though it seems you already know them." Koenma said.

"Yeah..."

"Just'a nickname, eh?" Yusuke said, reffering to their previous encounter with the twins.

"Somewhat..." Catherine replied with a shrug.

"Anyways, the portal to Makai will be open in a few hours. If there are things you need, you'll have to get them sorted out now. I know the tournament doesn't start for another two months, but within the time the Miki clan will need the protection." Koenma explained.

Catherine nodded, "Yeah. I guess it'd be pointless if we just healed them and left them unguarded. They would've gotten ambushed again."

"Well then, I suggest you start to get ready now. The portal doesn't stay open for long."

* * *

_People/Animals_

Mai: Dance, Coyote

Inu: Dog

_Other_

Eiki: Phases of Moon

Ara, ara: My, my

Utsumi: Bay

Shouheki: Enclosing wall, Barrier


	8. Ch 7: Burning Thoughts

**Disclaimer: I do not own YYH... nor the characters, except for my made up characters and the plotline.**

**_Reviewers:_**

_Rose of Death: - Thanks. I'll try to update quickly, but with schoolwork at hand, I think I could get the chapters done at least by the weekends._

* * *

Chapter 7: Burning Thoughts 

……………………………..

_"Well then, I suggest you start to get ready now. The portal doesn't stay open for long."_  
……………………………..

'_Two months..._' Catherine thought as she placed a few clothes in a small dufflebag-- most of the clothes were training gi's and a few casual clothes, though none were dresses or skirts. She left her bed and went over to her closet, scrambling for something. She froze as she felt a cardboard box in her hands. She then looked down, taking off the cover, revealing a small sugar pink kimono which had white polkadots which had a lavendar sash neatly folded beside it. There were four more kimonos underneath; one was a checkerd-pattern kimono with orange and white squares with a brown sash; the one underneath that one was a red kimono with a big print of a white butterfly on the back, the sash was black. The last kimono was a purple kimono with sakura petals on the sleeves, the sash was dark brown. '_These don't even fit me anymore..._' Catherine thought. She shook her head and then placed the four kimonos and sashes back into the box and placed the lid back on top. Her eyes narrowed as she felt a small presence in the room.

"Recalling memories?" Shouheki questioned. He had his back leaned on her door with his arms folded. He obviously wanted something, though Catherine knew what-- to aggrivate her. That was how it was. The flirting was just an alibi, but it was the most affective way to make Catherine want to slap him across the face, but she could not lay a hand on him because of his barrier techniques. She couldn't believe her mother had asked _him_ to help, even if he _was_ a talanted healer.

"None that concern you." Catherine replied dryly. She pushed the box back into the closet and stood up, searching for a jacket. She paused as she felt his hand an inch away from him, however spun and slapped it away. "If you're only here to piss me off, you'd better get the hell out of here."

"Aw, Rine-san, I'm hurt. How can you say such things to your dear cousin?" Shouheki asked in a mocking-like tone.

"You're not dear, you're far from that. And you're close to getting punched in the face." Catherine said flatly.

Shouheki chuckled lightly, "You're an interesting girl. Much different than your last---" he cut himself off, realizing what he had said.

"Last?" Catherine questioned. She stood up to her feet, giving a stern look, "Last what?"

"I'm forbbidden to say. Just forget I said it. If you really want to know, you'll have to go to the leader of our branches."

"But didn't the leader already die? Someone took over the requirements, didn't they?"

"Who knows." Shouhiki said in a careless tone. He turned, starting to leave, though paused as he spotted someone guarding the door. He narrowed his ruby eyes to him.

"Ah, don't worry. I was being civil." Shouheki said, a alm smile crossing his lips.

"Hn." was the infamous reply from Hiei.

Catherine remained silent for a few minutes after Shouheki left. The akward silence made her body tense, '_Say something idiot!_' she told herself. Though she could barely even open her numb and dry lips. Catherine barely managed to make a small feminin grunt. She then turned and walked towards her bed, having her back face him. She acted as if she were finishing her packing, though when she glanced back, Hiei was gone. '_Smooth one moron! Wait... why do I even care? He's a jerk! Not as bad as Shouheki... but he's still a jerk!_' she thought.

……………………………..

"She sure is taking her sweet time..." Yusuke said. He placed his hands into his green jacket, glancing towards the bare road. He had really been itching for a fight lately, since things had been quite peaceful. He then glanced at the family as they waited in a few seprate groups, talking among themselves. He then figured that there might not be much of a fight for him, considering all of the new security. He then glanced towards Koenma, and then Botan who had just arrived. She wore her sugar pink kimono as usual and still had her goofy smile.

"Be patient Yusuke, she is a girl afterall." Botan said. With that being said, Catherine was seen from afar, huffing as she rushed to the center of the forest. She stopped once she was only a few feet away from a part of space which had been cut to make the portal. Her Jiaoling Youren was replaced with a tight, black shirt and a blue jean jacket. She placed her small duffle bag in front of her, vertically and leaned onto it until she caught her breath. She stood back up, holding onto the bag by both straps in front of her. '_Note to self: work on stanima..._'

"Sorry. I had to check something..." she said.

"It's all right. Well then. Now that we're all here, the portal is almost done. It should open to the other side any minute now." Koenma said.

Catherine looked at the glowing oval in front of her. She approached it slowly, but Koenma placed a hand in front of her. "It's still not complete. If you jump in now, then the chances of you entering Makai safely are a slim chance." he said.

Catherine then stepped back, though felt claws pierce into her back, pushing her into the portal, along with whatever was behind her. She could barely hear the mumer "Rine-san!" from the entrance of the circle, but it died out as she went through. Bright flashes surrounded her as she fell through the shaking vortex, which seemed to be making shape. Catherine shielded her eyes as a blinding light forced through the vortex, giving it a solid shape.

She flew out of the vortex, nearly falling off the edge of a mountain reigon. The unfamiliar sky was a blood red with dark clouds. Lightning shackled and the thunder responded violently, making the ground far underneath her vibrate belligerantly. She hung onto the edge of the cliff for dear life, nearly passing out as she saw the ground below her. She then looked back up, seeing a familiar coyote in front of her. The female coyote placed her paw on Catherine's hand, piercing her claws into her flesh.

"This is payback from earlier. Now you won't have anyone to protect you."

"What's with you moon-howling pups and trying to break off my hands?" Catherine stated sarcastically. Not only was her hand in pain, but her the back of her shirt had deep claw marks, digging into her flesh, and letting her scarlette liquid ooze out of her wounds. She felt her numb hand start to loose grip of the cliff, though the coyote pierced her claws deeper into Catherine's tissues. She winced her eyes shut, half of it from the pain and the other half for not wanting to look to the ground. The last place she wanted to be right now was on the edge of something very steep though she would have to endure it if she didn't want to be killed off, _again_.

"Pity, I was looking for a good fight too. You dirty hanyou. Go to the deep ends of hell."

Catherine's eyes opened heatedly, her gray eyes hollowed into a dark charcoal. As Momiji released Catherine's hand, Catherine dug her fists into the cliff, slowing down her momentum. Once she stopped half-way in the cliff, she ran across the damaged wall with immense speed and jumped back onto the surface. Chinese characters dug out onto the skin of her arms, face, legs and back, lighting up into pure white. Catherine croutched to her knees, pushing her hands on the sides of her temple and hollared in agony. She then gave hollow breaths as the lights dimmed, glaring her ebony eyes towards Momiji. Something among the coyote's lines triggered Catherine's violent behavior. She couldn't tell where the burning fury was coming from, but it slowly influenced her into rage. Her consious soon fell asleep while her subconsious, or whatever consious, started to awaken from a long slumber.

"Don't insult me you worthless mutt." she said wearly before caving in. Her eyes flickered from charcoal to gray as she collapsed to the ground. Once she fell, the Chinese characters faded away in a shimmering form. Catherine layed, sleeping peacefully and completely unguarded. To Momiji's surprise, the wounds were healed and there were no specks of blood except on the back of her shirt. Momiji started to approach Catherine, however stopped as Hiei, along with Kuro and Keihi (in wolf forms) stood beside Catherine. Momiji backed away, giving a growl, and fled.

Hiei retreated his katana and then bent down, carefully picking up Catherine. "... She doesn't have any scratches." he stated. He was surprised, however masked his expression with a stern look as she started to stirr. Her eyes flickered openen, however shut lazily after mumbling something. Hiei sigh and placed Catherine over his shoulders, resting her body on his back. Kuro and Keihi sprinted once Hiei dashed off.

------  
_"Hiei..."  
-------_

Catherine pushed off the bed violently, however eased a little as she realized she was indoors. She slid off to the side of the bed, pushed back her loose hair, and stood up. She walked slowly towards the door which stood across from her bed-- she could hear mumers from the other side of the door. She held onto the edge of her white t-shirt, which hung laxed over her shoulders and sighed. Someone must have changed her shirt while she had been resting. She turned the knob slowly with her other hand, and opened it slightly. She poked her head through the door and spotted a group of unfamiliar people. She walked in quietly, letting go of the end of her shirt and looked at the small group-- most of them either hand bandages or patches.

"Oh, you're up. We were starting to get worried." one of them said. She looked up to him, giving a short nod. His hair was just as long as hers, but was in a ponytail and had no bangs. His brown eyes scanned her from head to toe, and then gave a nod in return. "Looks like you have no injuries Rine-san. That is your name, right? One of your family members offered to heal you, but it wasn't necessary."

"Tsume-ojisan, don't flirt with her. She's much too young for you." a woman said, curling her lips in a wry smile. Her silver hair was cut into a boyish length, pointing in different directions, though a few strands (about 3 inches wide) rested on her cheek and covered part of one of her emerald eyes.

"I'm not flirting, just concrned. Though the way she came in here, it looks like she already has a young man." he said in a calm tone.

"Huh?" Catherine said confused.

"Ah, that's right, you were asleep when he brought you on his back. I think it was Hiei-san, ne?" the silver-haired teenager asked.

"EH?" Catherine said, her voice raising, in a shocked tone. She felt her cheeks burn a bright pink, however jerked her head, facing the wall opposite of the entrance door. "He's not my boyfriend." she said flatly.

"Oh, now that I remember... I think someone wanted you to go meet them in the lobby... I believe her name was Mamori-obasan." he said.

-------

"Oh Rin-san, thank _goodness_! Everyone was worried." Mamori cried as she embraced Catherine tightly. '_I guess she's calling me _Rin_ since the other family members are around..._' Catherine thought.

"I'm fine, really." Catherine said assuringly. She then gave an exasperated expression as her aunt gave another tense hug. She shuttered to think of what her mother would have done if she didn't come back alive. To put even more greif, she remembered what was keeping her alive-- the demon that she had accidentally let loose was the reason. She then had an image of a young man grinning and as she saw the image of her mind, her face turned slightly pale. The warm smile made her feel some sort of agony, but it wasn't as bad as earlier when she was almost killed off--- somehow it felt worse, as if something were eating from the inside of her chest. '_Why am I thinking about him? He's--_'

"Rin dear, are you all right?"

Catherine looked up to Mamori, who had finally broke her dangerous grip of _secureness. _She gave a weak smile and nodded, "Mnh. I'm fine." Catherine said.

"Oh, Rin dear, Koenma-sama said you need to check-in at the front desk. They should give you a room number and a key." Mamori stated.

-------

"Where have you _been_? After that coyote attacked you from behind, everyone was panicing!" Yusuke said.

"I uh... don't really remember much..." Catherine replied.

"Well, you seem fine. Kuro-san had suggested to leave you in one of the strongest teams until you recovered consiousness. We were still checking in while you and Hiei arrived." Kurama explained. Though he hadn't finished since Hiei narrowed his eyes, as if saying "_Say anything more and you'll regreat it_."

"I--"

Catherine was cut off while being pounced onto from the behind. The preadator seemed no older than Catherine's younger siblings and from the looks of it, he was quite entergetic. His shaggy brunette hair swished over his sharp, chocolate brown eyes. He was quite skinny and very frail, though had very sharp fangs which showed as he grinned. His silver ears drooped on the top of his head, while his tail wagged a mile a minute.

"You're Rine-san, ne? I'm Tsuki, from one of the trainee teams." he said.

"Trainee teams?"

"Yeah. I guess it'd sort of be like a Junior Devision, or at least I think that's how some of the tournaments work in some ningen countries. I wanted to ask you somethin'. Mind taggin' along with me for a bit?" Tsuki asked.

Catherine glanced to the other detectives, who seemed to not have any objective expressions and then glanced back to Tsuki, "I guess it's all right." she responded.

"Wai! Thanks." Tsuki said. He then hopped off Catherine's back and started to head towards the door, followed by Catherine. The young pup open the door and walked out, not bothering to shut it, forcing Catherine to do so. The two walked quietly through the hallway, though stopped at an elevator. Tsuki hung his head low, glancing at the red carpet, as if he were in deep thought. He then looked up to Catherine, opening his mouth to say something, but the elevator's soft 'bing' cut him off. He looked towards the doors which opened slowly. Catherine blinked as she spotted no one inside the elevator. '_Did he press the button?'_ she thought to herself.

"Uhm, I wanted to ask about Naomi..." he said slowly.

Catherine raised her eyebrow as if she had heard gibberish, though slowly caught on and gave a wry smirk, which caused Tsuki's face to turn scarlette.

"Ahh, so _that's_ it. The shy-around-girls type, eh?"

Tsuki cocked his eyebrow and thought of the most intelligent thing he could say. "Nani?"

Catherine gave a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry, I sometimes have a thick head and blabber about something without thinking. So, what do you need help with?"

"Uhm well..."

------------

(_"Baka!"_)) a deep voice bellowed.

Two figures stood in front of a waterfall; the area was mostly of grass, a small cliff, and some trees at the border. Water rushed at the peak, dropping into the hazy lake which didn't seem to raise tide. A coyote with blonde fur stood upon a large boulder, standing in front of a coyote with maple-colored fur. Momiji, despite her 'accomplishment' had seemed to get more retorts than praise. It would only be a matter of time when she snaps.

((_"But Kiiro-sama---!"_))

((_"You insolent coyote! Think before you bite. Do you remember what happened the _last_ time you disobeyed orders?"_))

Momiji shuttered by just thinking of the past. She had only been a pup, but despite that fact, they didn't go easy on her. She figured that she wouldn't be able to press the subject anymore and decided to switch from offense to surrender, for now at least. She bowed her head, bending her left paw, ((_"Forgive me Kiiro-sama. I assure you it won't happen again."_))

The blonde coyote nodded in approval and retreated from his mighty rock, approaching her until he was a meter away. He sat down on all four legs, keeping his back straight. ((_"How much has she improved?"_))

------------

Catherine sighed as she carried Tsuki on his back. She then lifted her head feeling an odd, but familiar, presence. She dove out of the way as a fireball broke through the glass window behind her and went through the hallway. She then placed Tsuki down on the floor and then glanced back towards the window where a young woman stood. Tsuki growled, though Catherine placed her hand on his shoulder, gesturing him to back off. At that, she stood to her feet and took one last glance at him.

"I'll only be a minute, don't tell anyone who I'm with or where I'm going, all right?" she said. Tsuki's nod gave Catherine an approval and walked towards the woman and jumped through the window, following the woman. Tsuki rushed over towards the window, watching after her as she sprinted off. Footsteps startled the young pup, which caused him to scurry for the elevator door which started to close. A hand on his back shirt caused him to stop.

"Where did the onna go?"

"Rin-san?"

"Yes you fool, where is she?"

Tsuki quivered, though relaxed as he heard another voice, "Hiei, don't be so tough on him. He's only a pup."

He turned to see a tall young man with long red hair and emerald eyes. "Ah, Kurama-san, ne?"

"Yes. Now, where did Rine-san go?" Kurama asked.

Tsuki hesitated as Catherine's words runned through his mind, almost like a broken record. He glanced towards the floor, missing the wide-eyed expression Hiei gave.

"She left with a youkai?" he nearly shouted.

"I... I can't say..."

Hiei did not wait long enough for the ookamiko's answer. He sprinted off, heading the direction the youkai and the hanyou had left.

* * *

Cliff hangers again... okay, this wasn't too descriptive (though I try dearly, and I've seen some of my previous mistakes from my other chapters. I kept wondering _What DID I type in the previous chapters?_) Anyways, I'll try to work on the next chapter(s) and put more info., etc. 

_Other_

_Animals_

Ookamiko: "Ookami" means "wolf", "ko" is the suffix for "kodomo", which means "child" So "Wolf Child"

Hanyou: Half-blooded Demon (it's usually an insult to demons)


	9. Ch 8: Teacher or Foe?

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own YYH. I only own my made up characters and the plot**

**_Chapter(s) Updated (more description):_**

_Chapter 3: Counter Attack!  
Chapter 4: Caught by Surprise  
Chapter 5: Gentle Force and a Fierce Battle  
Chapter 6: Lack of Sleep _

Sorry for the wait, but I finally added onto the chapter! Plus, I decided to make the tournament a bit earlier than I planned 'cause I'm really clueless t what I'm going to write, but I finally got the perfect final chapter! I won't say what happens, but there will be a crossover in my next sequel. That's all I'm saying for now, anyways please enjoy and review!

Suggestions on the tournament will be loved! Check my fourms and apply a character 'cause I'm not sure on how this'll work. I only have two requests: one, the characters must either be out of the three demon types: wolf, dog or coyote: and second: their names have to be a color or an animal part (nose, fur, etc. Please be appropriate!) it can be in any language, but please state what language it is in and what the meaning is so I can put it up in the top/bottem of the chapter. Thanks!

* * *

Chapter 8: Teacher or Foe? 

_-------------------------_

_"I'll only be a minute, don't tell anyone who I'm with or where I'm going, all right?"_

_-------------------------_

Catherine followed the young woman through the forest region and examined her slowly for any weapons or sharp objects. Long ebony hair flapped behind the young woman's back, brushing with the wind as she picked up speed. She was also dressed quite casually with a simple black top and jeans. She gave a startled expression as the woman glanced towards the corner of her eye, "Nani?" she asked dryly. Although Catherine was startled, but guised her her face structure and gave a calm and relaxed reply.

"Iie."

"If I were going to attack you, I would have done it already. That fireball was just an illusion, just to grab your attention." she stated. Before Catherine could press on the conversation, the woman picked up more speed, causing Catherine to drift a yard behind. The woman sighed, _'So this is her? She's as naive as I was back then...'_ the woman thought. She finally stopped in front of a wasted dome and walked inside, placing her hand onto the wall as she walked. Her fingers glittered with energy, attracting broken pieces and glass. With her touch, the dome slowly picked itself up, rebuilding it's former structure. Her boots echoed through the entrance of the dome elegantly and calmly. Catherine followed the sounds of the footsteps ringing through her ears, slowly taking the same steps the woman had. The echoes finally stopped once the two stood in the center of the arena. Each inch of marble was pure white as if brand new and showed no expression. Even the shards of glass picked themselves up from the ground, glittering the sunlight from the outside.

"Is this an illusion too?" Catherine asked in awe as she glanced above to the glass-covered dome.

"No, though some people would assume that too. I used my Ki (energy) to rebuild the structure, sort of like cement to keep it sturdy." the woman explained.

"Doesn't that waste a lot of Chi (energy/blood)? We could have just talked in the lobby." Catherine said.

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

"Only when I'm awake." Catherine said, half jokingly. Although it was true; when she was awake and interested she often asked a lot of questions which could sometimes easily annoy someone, though she kept her mouth shut when she knew her information and acted as if she would care less. She had gotten in quite a lot of trouble with the mood-swings at school even though she was passing most of her classes.

The woman sighed, though gave a small smile. She pointed her index finger directly towards Catherine, sending a pulse of energy with a swift motion. Catherine took the hit, mostly from not having enough time to see the attack coming. She hit into the wall behind her, having parts of the white structure to collapse onto her. Catherine coughed underneath the pieces as she pulled them off of her. "Why'd you do that? That's just a waste if you were planning on destroying the arena again!" she complained.

"If I were an enemy, you'd be dead by now for not paying attention. You haven't even opened the _tip_ of your power."

Catherine slowly stood up, still coughing from the dust then patted and brushed it off of her clothes. As she patted them off, the wall started to rebuild itself. "I just started training three months ago, it's not like I've been training all my life."

The woman narrowed her eyes, _'Only three months? They should have started long ago.'_ she thought. She then placed her hands into her jean pockets, slowly turning around, "Keep training. This _is _Makai after all. If you still want to live, you'll have to train three times harder than you normally did in Ningenkai, mastering techniques within a day. I can make that happen, if you trust me that is."

"First... tell me who you are and how you know me."

"Those are two questions I cannot answer."

Catherine started towards the woman, realizing that she was being serious. She walked towards the woman slowly, picking up her pace within every step until she was in a full dash and leaped up to the woman, planning to do a jump-kick, but the woman grabbed Catherine by the ankle, glaring towards her. "That was a pathetic attack. I could have attacked you instantly because of your lack of guard."

"Then you're just going to have to teach me, aren't you?"

The woman sighed, "I guess I'll have to."

"On one condition."

"What's that?" The woman cocked her eyebrow.

"At least tell me your name." Catherine said.

"That again? _Sigh_. Saru."

"Saru... ka?"

The woman nodded. "Come here tomorrow, just as the sun sets."

"Yokai!"

_----------------_

"Baka onna! Don't just run off like that!" bellowed Hiei. Every inch of his body was tense but not from his rapid sprint searching for her. Yusuke watched amusingly with his arms folded, leaning his back on the wall by the door. Tsuki also watched, sitting down doggy-style on the edge of the couch, wagging his wolf tail while his ears perked up and dropped every so often. Just as Catherine had left the dome, Hiei had caught up and spotted her, and without a word, dragged her back to the hotel.

Catherine puffed her cheeks furiously and gave a "Humph." sound. "I can take care of myself yanno? And it's not like I'm needed here for healing or anything, I'm a _bodyguard_ for Pete's sake! I can take care of myself."

"That's not the point! You _followed_ a demon--"

"She wasn't demon!" Catherine interrupted.

"I second that." Tsuki agreed, raising one of his hands as a witness.

"You keep quiet you whimpering pup!" Hiei spat as he glared his ruby eyes towards the young wolf-ling.

Tsuki winced, and fell back, from fright, onto the couch and crouching down at the edge, though still poking his head up once Hiei retreated his glare.

"Don't be mean to him!" Catherine said.

Hiei opened his mouth to give a retort, though the door swung open, heading towards Yusuke's direction and ramming his face, and an upbeat Kuwabara along with Kurama, entered the room. "HEYyyy..." his beaming voice died down as he saw Hiei's expression and slowly backed away while Yusuke rubbed his plastered face, "Kuwabara you dip!" he exclaimed.

"U-Urameshi... HEY! I'M NOT A DIP!"

Catherine sighed exasperatedly, "Are we done here? Good, now if you'll excuse me..." she said quickly as she started to walk past them. Before the others could say anything, Catherine left swiftly between Kuwabara and Kurama. Tsuki plopped off of the couch and followed behind the petite teen while Kuwabara stood dumbfounded.

Kurama glanced over to Hiei who gave a flat "Hn."

_----------------_

Saru sighed as she heard the tree branches rustle, as if being stepped on. Without looking back, she could instantly tell who the person jumping down from the tree to the ground was. "Enjoying the great outdoors, Caitlin?" she asked calmly. She heard a feminine grunt in reply and heard the woman, Caitlin, walk beside her though did not move her position, arms still crossed with one hand under her chin.

"How's my little sister doing?" Caitlin asked uneasily.

"Mn, now you're interested in her all of a sudden?" She twisted her head towards Caitlin for the first time with a calm expression while Caitlin's ebony eyes boiled with rage.

"It's not like I had a choice! You banned my brother and myself out of the family. And then you have our father take Catherine's place so she wouldn't be sent to Reikai because of that incident! If it never happened--"

"But it did. There's no way of changing the pasts course. Only a fool with the skill would try to do that. Though, it has already been chosen that Catherine would be the next head of the family; the fortunetellers in the Kawaki branch had already foreseen this. That is how our head of the family is determined." she explained sternly.

"I know that! But to go to such extreme measures, just because we aren't pure psychic." Caitlin protested.

"It has nothing to do with pure or mixed bloods, it's to go by what _will_ happen. If you're done now--"

"No I'm not done--!"

"Then I'll finish it." She raised her hand, facing her palm directly across from Caitlin's solar plexus and a gust of energy brushed violently into Caitlin, sending her several yards away and lowered her hand. The trees that were once surrounding them, were all snapped in a nice and even row, though snapped in different positions. The dirt in front of her dug down to at least five inches to her feet and went deeper to Caitlin's point to about a meter deep. Caitlin's body seemed untouched, though every inch inside her body was screaming of uneasy pain. To show the proof, some scarlet liquid oozed out from her left ear, while she laid on the trunk of a tree with her jaw slightly open as she breathed uneasily.

"If you're daring enough to try again, I won't stop you, but you might not get up again. Just a friendly warning."

_----------------_

"I can't _stand_ him! Worried my ass." Catherine grumbled as she stomped towards the lobby. Tsuki trotted beside her, looking up. "But he was. You shoulda seen his expression when he asked where you went off to." he proclaimed.

"He looked a helluva _not_ scared and looked like he was just about ready to kill." Catherine spat. "Anyways, you should worry about yourself. Oh, Naomi-chan!"

"M--" he paused as he heard her call the young girl's name and quickly dived behind Catherine, though Catherine chuckled as he realized that she was only teasing him and gave a frown. "That wasn't funny."

"Yanno, it should be backwards between you two. She doesn't know and you're the one knocking your knees."

"I'm not use to this kind of stuff... I'm use to fighting." Tsuki said.

Catherine heaved a sigh and ruffled the pup's head, "Don't worry about it. She's real sweet, Aiko's the energetic one though... can't tell if she's--"

"Rin-neechyan!"

Catherine game an "oomph" sound as Aiko pounced onto her back and gave a grimace, "Going to make an entry." she mumbled under her breath.

"Rin-neechyan, my haha said to tell you that your okasan is going to come over here when the tournament starts."

"NANI?" Catherine shouted shocked. The other youkai in the lobby shared glances towards her as she gave a sheepish laugh, scratching the back of her head, "Um, sorry." she said. The youkai then continued what they were doing, acting as if nothing had happened. Catherine sighed and glanced back to Aiko who grinned.

"Yup. Oh, the cloaked man was looking for you." Aiko added.

"Cloaked...?" It took Catherine a minute to realize who the 'cloaked man' was and looked forward, narrowing his eyes, "I don't need to talk to him." she said flatly.

Aiko blinked then shrugged her shoulders, "Nanra..." she then hopped off of Catherine's back and gave a solute, "I'm gonna go see haha, jya-ne!" With that, the young twin left without a second thought. Tsuki looked up to Catherine, who sighed with a few mumbles underneath the breath. He then tugged the teen by the arm and she twisted her head towards him giving a "Hm?".

"Hey could ya help our team with some training?"

_---------------- _

"Okay guys, Rine-san said she'd help us with our training." Tsuki said.

The four other pups looked towards him, not quite pleased. One of the teammates, a young girl with long brown hair, slowly approached the two after tossing a few strands behind her shoulder. "Tsuki, we need to practice against the advance teams. Does she even _know_ how to fight?"

"But Ume-chan..."

The two bickered as Catherine narrowed her eyebrows, _A princess eh? Let's see what you can do,_ she thought. The other pups sighed, as if expecting them to have a fight. One of them, a pre-teen, walked in between the two. "All right, if you two love-struck pups don't stop fighting, I'll send you both to your corners. Got it?" The youth seemed to be use to this by now and had seemed to have had enough of the bickering. Tsuki scowled while Ume glared towards him with disgust.

"We're not love-struck pups!" the two said in unison.

"Then start behaving. It's bad enough that we're the worst out of all the teams." he said as he lowered his hands, gripping them as he glared towards the ground. They hadn't been concentrating since one of their best teammates was part of the kidnapping incident. The only one in the group who could really enthuse the other teammates with full spirit. It had been weeks since the kidnapping and there were no mixed chemistry within the team.

"All right, that's enough bickering. Let's get started." Catherine said, her voice getting more stern with each word.

The pups looked up towards her, though Ume frowned, looking the opposite direction. Her wolf ears perked up when Catherine said, "Let's start with you." She glared towards the human-looking teenager, "I don't _need_ training. I can work just fine on my own." With that being said, the wolf-pup left with a quick dash, though squealed once Hiei appeared in front of her.

"You aren't going anywhere past the hotel. The coyote can attack at any given minute and you'll be defenseless."

Ume puffed her cheeks, much like Catherine had when Hiei scolded her. For a brief second he paused, though he then grabbed the back collar of her kimono and dragged her back onto the arena, tossing her towards Catherine; at last minute, Catherine caught Ume, though fell down with her for being too late and too careless. Hiei gave a smirk, "She's a lot like you, the both of you might even cooperate."

"We aren't alike!"

* * *

It has been nearly two months since the trainee teams had been starting to train with each other in Catherine's "sessions". Meanwhile, late at night, Catherine would train with Saru-sensei and had finally gotten control over her Wanaki, though the new training they had started was causing her to accidentally sleep in while she was suppose to be training with the wolf-lings. Secretly, Hiei had been following her and keeping an eye out, mostly because of the first day they arrived at Makai-- or that's what he kept on telling himself. 

Catherine breathed heavily and pulled herself out from underneath the rubble. Her white T-shirt was almost completely torn, showing her white bandages from underneath. The bandages went past her waist by an inch, hiding underneath her gray sweatpants. _Great. Another torn shirt to repair,_ she thought sarcastically. More bandages were wrapped around her arms from her elbows to her forearms and wrapped around her quadriceps to her gastrocnemius , where she had been storing most of her wanaki to make her legs stronger, but they would end up slightly damaged when she first started the new training, but her muscles slowly got use to the pressure.

"Come on, I didn't start training you so you can lay in gravel all night." Saru said flatly.

Catherine pulled herself up slowly. They had been working on how to store wanaki from different places of the body, but storing it in the lower parts of her body seemed to be more challenging. She coughed out some blood, though wiped it from the corner of her mouth as if it were nothing. She stood back up to her feet, standing in a fighting stance with a smirk across her face. Within a split second, Catherine started to run-- her speed had increased over the training too-- and managed to prepare a surprise attack from ducking down into a low spin-kick, knocking Saru down to the ground. Saru pulled herself up and looked up towards the dome; the skies were starting to become less violent; it was a full moon, which meant that the tournament would start tomorrow, or from what she remembered Kuro-sensei had mentioned.

"I guess that this is fine for now, since you will need your rest for tomorrow."

"Right, I'm suppose to be a bodyguard at the tournament. There's no point of being here if I can't do my job."

Saru nodded, "We'll continue our training after the tournament."

"...Right."

* * *

_Name Meanings_

Caitlin: Pure

_Animals/People  
_

Onna: Woman

Haha: Mother (formal)

Okasan/Oka-san: Mother

_Other_

Iie: No, not really, nothing, (etc.)

Nanra: whatever (other Japanese terms: ikani, nannari, nanto)

Saru: To leave, to go away (Again, Catherine is not fluent in Japanese, so it's not certain if "Saru-sensei" really meant that Saru was her real name, or was just saying to go away. ((_grin_)) Makes you wonder what she meant, ne?)

ka: Is that so? (or anything similar)

Baka: idiot, moron, etc. (anime fans should know this by now...)


	10. Ch 9: Contract

**Disclaimer: I'm afraid I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho except for the plot and the characters that are original and not canon. PLEASE REVIEW! I'm starting to have doubts about the fan-fiction since there are not that many reviews and small amounts of hits in the status...**

Also, to make things clearer: Words between two "/"s are telepathic conversations. The ones with the "(())" are in demon language. Oh, and if you want to roleplay with me or anything, look me up on gaiaonline as SPIRITGUN NEKO. I roleplay most animes, but please don't spam my inbox ;-;. And no, I won't tell you what happens in the next chapters, you'll just have to wait and see like everyone else. Oh and this chapter's about 1,000 letters more than usual (grin). I'll try to add on a little more later.

* * *

Chapter 10: Yakujou (Agreement/Contract) 

Tsuki yawned sluggishly and glanced towards his other teammates; each of them were alert and as ready as ever. The trainee division would begin shortly, though each of them were secretly nervous. This he could tell, he could even _smell_ it. He glanced towards his teammates from right to left: Ume-chan (Sawaru, but she likes to be called "Ume" because she likes plums), Miru-kun and his identical twin Manako-chan standing beside one another, Kiku-kun (the ookami youkai who called Ume and Tsuki love-struck pups). All they were missing were Utau-chan... _Iie,_ _Ossharu-san,_ he noted mentally, and since of that morning Kagu-kun had been missing.

Despite the twins being the opposite sex, the only difference you could tell was that Miru had his hair in a shaggy ponytail while Manako had her hair in a loose braid over her shouler.You'd think a male wolf-twin would consider usin a brush. Otherwise, you could hardly tell them apart since they looked the same even in their black fighting Gi's. Their game was speed and they liked to trick their opponents by using lightning attacks from underground (which was usually Manako's trick) while the hands-free twin would spring into action with a technique (Catherine went over manuvers with the twins and even with her own training, it was hard trying to keep up with the pups who enjoyed seeing a _literally_ shocked sensei).

Kiku was a solo-act as well as Ume. Tsuki could work with overall any partner, though had lack of confidence which caused him to be sloppy. He had no special element, but he had a strong sense of smell and because of that, he dodged attacks easily and could tell an illusion from the real thing though Ume would always pout whenever her illusion was revealed. From what Catherine heard from Tsuki, Ossharu-san sung spells and used the element of water, mostly because of her siren genes she had inherited from an unknown clan. Ume knew some spells as well, though most were illusionary spells but were not sung and she had the earth element, which sometimes was a disadvantage to water if she wasn't careful. She and Ossharu would always end up in a magic battle, which caused all of the other teammates to run for dear life since both were as stubborn as Kagu and Tsuki, but with a much more tense atmosphere. If you waved a hand in the air, you could feel the tension bring your arm down within a few seconds of contact.

Kagu had no element, like Tsuki, but also had a strong sense of smell but did not dodge and counter attacked instead. He has over confidence, which leads him into various kinds of trouble. He rarely ever thought about what would happen later and focused on the 'now', while Tsuki nearly always thought of the consequences. The two were complete opposites, but both had one similar sense. Tsuki was rarely around to even see what kind of techniques Kiku was use to, though it was mostly because he prefered to train alone with Rine-sensei. He guess that Kiku wanted to keep concentration instead of his teammates cheering him on, which was what got the pup more nervous even though he acted like the leader of the team.

The wolf pretends to pay attention to the "team leader" as the announcer starts to keep the crowds down until introductions are persue. The twins leaned on eachother, trying to give their support so they do not fall asleep while Ume-chan pays close attention with her brunette ears pirked up for extra dose of hearing aid. Kiku combs his dark mane while he sighs in frustration, seeing through Tsuki's act and walks over, waving a hand in front of the pup. He wasn't one to be fooled, considering the pup had barely kept track of the team leader's movements. Any idiot could figure out that he wasn't paying attention of a rock hit Tsuki's thick skull. The pup couldn't help the fact that he had the attention span of a tempered monkey who had just been stolen of their banana. Tsuki gave a sheepish grin at Kiku's irritated expression.

"Tsuki! _Yo,_ Tsuki! Stop daydreaming will 'ya?"

"Gome ni, Kiku-kun."

The irritation soon disappeared from Kiku's expression and showed more concern, "Tsuki, you all right?"

"Hai, hai. Sousou." he said briskly, gesturing his arms towards the arena. "We're up, right?"

"Yeah. Rin-sensei said that she'd be keeping a close eye on us, so we'll be fine even if those damn coyotes try something dirty. I'll go on a one on one first, that'll give you guys a chance to see what the team's strategy is."

"Yokai!" the teammates said in union. Kiku gave a thumbs-up just before walking onto the platform, giving a cocky grin. "All right, let's get this tournament started."

Tsuki watched absentmindedly as his teammate shook hands with the sour pup he was against—he completely ignored the mischievous smirk the opponent gave, though the other teammates warned Kiku about something just as the pup dashed, though Tsuki was too buried in thought to realize what had been going on. He dazed as an old memory snuck up on him, though it was still a little fuzzy since it was ages ago. Or at least he thought it was ages ago. The monkey had just left the building. Again. And what a brilliant time too; Kiku was instantly rammed into the ground by the much taller, and even more thick headed, member of the opposite team. Kiku staggered out of the way just before the coyote punched his fist into the ground; as the coyote bent down, Kiku dived from behind and sent a flying kick to the opponent.

_He remembered sneaking off after training to head to a waterfall, it was nearly dusk from what he could remember. The skies were filled with the normal colors of red, purple and musky haze slowly shadowing the warm sun. The cascade poured into the depths of the pool, though he wondered why it hadn't been overflowed with all of the water that showered down. Tsuki was no older than one decade old, yet he took the appearance of a five-year-old human, despite his wagging tail and perked up ears. He had no fear of stripping and diving into the pool and doggy paddle with a wide smile. He dove underneath the water, exploring the depths for as long as his breath could manage, and shot back up into the water like a bullet giving out a loud "Ahh!" of relaxation._

_A feminine giggle startled him, causing him to sink back into the water so only half of his face was shown. He scanned the rocks and trees until he spotted a particular female wolf, no older than he only by two months from what he could smell. He had always been proud of his sense of smell, which often caused Kagu and he to fight against each other since both of the pups were hard headed and full of pride. Tsuki then decided it was all right to raise up a little since he didn't smell the scent of an enemy, though he couldn't place from what part of the clan she was from._

_"Konbanwa Tsu-ki-kuun." she said with a wagged index finger with each syllable._

_"How do you know my name?" he questioned dumbfounded._

_The girl giggled again, showing her pearl-coated fangs, "The fights between Kagu-kun and yourself are the talk of the pups. Even the adults talk about it."_

_"Oh... so what's your name?"_

_She had told her name, though it was too far back for Tsuki to remember. After her introduction her next action startled Tsuki, causing him to fluster and shut his eyes, "What're you _doing_? You're a _girl_!" he spluttered._

_The wolf girl neatly folded her indigo dyed kimono and dove into the pool, starting to doggy-paddle towards him, "So? You're in here. Why can't I?"_

_"B-because... uh... uh..." He backed away, paddling out of the pool and grabbing his clothes. "NicetomeetyouIhavetogo!" he said quickly._

_The ookamiko puffed her cheeks angrily, "Fugainai urufu!" she yelled._

"Kiku!"

The cry startled Tsuki out of his rememberance as he saw his companion collapse onto the ground, claw marks all over his face and arms. Tsuki panicked, rushing up towards the platform but an arm grabbed him—it was Miru's. The male twin gave a firm expression as Tsuki struggled to break loose. The announcer began the count, which alarmed Tsuki even more but he had already fogotten about the rules of the tournament; the only acception of a team member jumping into the ring is if the trainees tag-teamed with their teammates. But that was only in the trainees, since they were still growing pups. They knew better than to kill their relatives, which was why the teams refused to have any other demon besides the three suggested beasts.

"Miru, what're you doing? Get off'a me! Kiku—"

"He's still in the ring, and he's getting up. Look."

Tsuki turned his head away from the sandy haired wolf, watching Kiku stand up from the ground and the twin released him. He then went over back to his sibling to calm her down since she had been the one who shouted his name. He reminded her that Kiku became nervous if someone inturrupted him as he fights. A pat on the shoulder tensed Tsuki for a breif second, though he relaxed as he saw Catherine standing beside him with a gingerly smile. She was dressed in loose gray sweats and a tight black T-shirt with very hard to see stiches (thanks to Mamori-obasan). She had finally managed to get some clothes that weren't ripped or torn from training with the pups or training with _her_ sensei. She'd swear if she had to find another set of garnments and to add another demolished set of clothing to her pile, the causer would regret it dearly.

"Kiku's going to be fine, don't worry."

"Rin-sensei, shouldn't you be on parol?"

Her warm smile turned into a bright grin, "The other detectives as well as some of my family memebers are keeping an eye on the other teams. They specifically told me to keep an eye on the trainees."

Tsuki smiled, though slowly frowned as she patted his back a little roughly, "So stop daydreamin' and pay attention!"

"That's what Kiku said..."

"Then he has good advice. You should listen to him, he is your teammate after all."

"Hai—" he paused, sniffing into the air, "—an enemy's nearby..." he muttered, eyes narrowing. Tsuki scanned the stands; though the enemy was clever of using fake fur to cover up his scent, but thanks to his keen smell he could detect nearly anything but the strong scent was also flaued. He couldn't stand blood or heavy scents; he would collapse if there was too much. He then spotted a figure carrying something(s) and dashing off. As the figure dashed off, Tsuki followed the figure's tracks while his legs and arms started to transform into his ookamiko form. He didn't bother to mention anything to his comrades, which was stupid since he wasn't strong enough to face someone on his own yet, but it didn't matter to him. Someone was trying to sabotage the tournament—or that's what he assumed—and he wouldn't let the enemy get away with it.

"TSUKI!" Catherine shouted. "Kuso...kuso..." she muttered.

_/Hiei! Hiei, damn it, answer me! I know you can hear me and until you reply I'll keep pissing you off! Hiei! HIEI!/_ she hollard mentally, continuing to chant his name rapidly. She didn't care if he was an ass, he was the quickest out of the group, _Besides me_, she noted at the back of her mind, and she didn't want Tsuki to get himself into trouble. Catherine finally stopped chanting his name once she got an annoyed reply and felt a little more at ease.

/What_ onna?/_

_/One of the pups just ran off. He said something about an enemy being nearby./_

_/Hn, and what do you want me to do about it? It was your job to_—/

_/HIEI!/_ Catherine raged, her face nearly turing into a dark shade of red. She would have chased after him in a heartbeat if she didn't have to keep an eye on the other pups.

_/Fine./_

——

"Something wrong Hiei?" questioned Kurama.

Hiei turned towards the kitsune with an irritated frown, "One of the pups left the arena, possibly persuing an enemy."

"But it was Catherine's task to take care of the trainees, isn't it?"

Hiei gave a flat, "Hn." and sprinted off. _Damn that onna,_ he thought.

/_S'not my fault!_/ he heard a voice chime mentally.

Hiei gave a flat sigh and continued his sprint, removing the bandage around his forehead to reveal the Jagan. _The pup shouldn't be too far off_, he noted. He continued to scan the area and spotted something, but it wasn't an ookami youkai. "Kuso!" he hissed as he felt an explosion of energy being sent towards him, barely dodging, only to have his left sleeve torn off. He searched with his Jagan and finally spotted a figure, but another explosion was sent towards him not making him able to see who it was. Hiei dodged again, this time finally catching a glimpse of the opponent as they walked out onto the scar of the ground. Hiei's eyes narrowed as he spotted the long haired woman.

"I'd like to introduce myself; I am Atotori Kawaki."

Hiei narrowed his eyes, "If I remember correctly, you stated your name was 'Saru'."

The woman chuckled, "Ah yes, Catherine is naive when it comes to languages. 'Saru' means _to leave_. So she did; she's a good girl when she doesn't understand things."

"What are you planning?" he demanded coldly. He placed his hand onto his hilt, almost as a threatening gesture, though it was to be more cautious incase she planned to attack or insult.

"Ara, ara. Fire demons have such bad tempers; if Catherine was a full-fledged psychic, then we wouldn't be in this mess. Well, since you want to know _so_ much—"

"Ato, stop playing around with the Jaganshi! We've got an annoying persuer and he's being frisky."

Atotori shrugged her shoulders with her arms raised in a laxed pose, "Well, I guess time's up for the day. _Have fun, Jaganshi_." she ended with a singsong after the wicked reply. With that, the psychic sprinted off, heading towards her ally—if she could call him that. Though she slowly felt the presence of Hiei far behind, but not loosing her. "Stubborn man..." she muttered. Yelps of pain could be heard as well as a few screams. She sighed exasperatedly, "The twin brats shouldn't have been _that_ hard to capture."

"Stupid pup! Out of the way," a man bellowed.

Tsuki winced as he slowly got up; his front paw and back thigh poured out drops of blood, making it harder for him to keep focus. He was use to his own blood, but the stench of an E-class demon reeked horribly from a demon who was trying to sneak into the arena to watch the match, or sabotage the crowd which he remembered distinctivly. But this was no E-class demon, though his smells were getting in the way of his concentration and his focous was lacking. He covered his dry paw onto his nose as he glanced his eyes towards the two prisoners-Aiko and Naomi who stood in terror for things were going about too fast, making it harder on their nerves. All they remember was watching the trainee division while being beside Haha and Obasan, but the next thing they knew was that a stranger grabbed the twins from behind and disappeared.

"Let them go!" he demanded.

The demon gave cold chuckles. "What makes you think that I'll give the brats to you?"

By this time, Tsuki's eyes started dropping every point second. Even though he shot them open, they still drowzed until they finally shut just before seeing a dark blur appear before him. The pup swore sluggishly before pounding onto the ground. The sound of a sword slashing started to become hazy as he drifted into sleep.

———

What seemed like seconds later, the ookami tore himself out of the fluffy bed he rested under. He stood up as if being shocked with a static bolt, charging through his nerves. His arm and leg were wrapped with fresh bandages, which meant that someone had just rebandaged him. From what he could tell from a wiff in the air, he must have been there for hours, "No... DAYS?" he screeched astonished. He winced at the retorn tissues that screamed a second time. Actually, the only sudden scream was from a certain psychic who bustled throug the door with a worried look.

"Tsuki-kun is something wrong? Or a bad dream?"

Tsuki shook his head. For a second he had thought he was safe from the relieved sigh coming from his sensei, but her next action caused him to panic. She started to yell angrily with a lecture of being irrational, which amused her allies since she was quite irrational herself, though deep down she had been a nervous wreck worring about the pup.

"And furthermore-"

Before she could go any deeper into the lecture, a hand clapped over Catherine's mouth only to hear muffles. A very amused Hiei stood beind Catherien as he glanced towards the wolf-pup, "To make it less complicating, she's been worried." he stated. With that, he started to redirect the onna towards the door though she did not like the idea and protested as he shoved her towards the door. Once they were in the doorway, she clamped her hands onto the sides, finally getting a few seconds of words, "I'm not done yet!"

"Yes you _are_." Hiei gritted.

He finally decided a more easier method by scooping her up from her legs, wich completly caught her off-guard, and sprinted through the hallway as Tsuki laughed amusingly though groaned as a couple more of his tissues seperated. His few moments of joy soon fell as he remembered his last encounter, which caused him to be alarmed. He pulled off his sheets, turning slowly towards the edge of the bed, but his next visitor caused him to hault. But this visitor was less... reckless.

"Don't worry, your girlfriend and her sister are fine. They're resting in the spirit detectives room being watched over by Botan and Yukina. We could only manage to stop the bleeding once you arrived and may I say you lost quite a lot of it. They'll have to heal on their own for now, it's not healtly to have your wounds healed so quickly very often. You'll feel light headed."

"Oh... h-hey, she's not my girlfriend!" Tsuki spluttered. _Yet_, he added mentally.

The male chuckled lightly, more heartly than the previous demon-but the male was not demon. He was indeed a psychic, but more mellow than his cousin. Shouheki examined the pup just as his other cousins had suggested, though knowing Rine-san she would have tried to beat him to a pulp for 'laying a hand on one of her students'. "No fatal injuries I assure you. But be careful with the wounds; even if one of the clan memebers were to heal you, it wouldn't heal correctly if the tissues are torn."

Tsuki nodded slowly, reverting his quick escape but he gave an expression as if he had finally registered something. "What happened to the tournament?"

Shouheki gave a warm smile, "Don't worry, your teammates are fine thanks to Rine-san's watchful eye. Though since they're lacking some members, yourself included, then they might have to forfit-"

"No heavenly moons way! I'm gonna be in the finals for sure!"

"Then you'll need your rest, won't you?"

Tsuki's ears dropped and he gave a sulky "Hai". He then raised his voice in curiosity, "What's yer name?"

"Shiromi Shouheki, at your service." He introduced himself with a brief bow and then stood normally, placing a hand in his pocket.

Tsuki blinked slowly. "Hey aren't you the guy who...?"

Shouheki chuckled as he foresaw the question, no telepathy needed. He knew his cousin very well. "Yes indeed. I see Rine-san spites about me?"

"Somewhat. Less than Hiei-san though. But you don't seem half as bad as Rine-sensei claims."

"That is because I am under a contract that has to do with the way I behave around her. But don't tell anyone, the contract is between the dealer and I."

"Contract?"

The male psychic put his index finger ontop of his pale lips which gave a calm smile. With a turn of a heel, the teen left the room, leaving Tsuki dumbfounded. He crossed his arms, thinking deeply, "I'm gonna sniff that contract inside out if I have to." he grinned, showing his white fangs. Once he was curious, he'd never back down in his puzzlement. He'd hunt that contract down. He didn't know why, but he just had to. Actually he knew why, but he had no reason to be searching through matters that didn't belong to him. The pup had always gotten into trouble that way, though he took sheer pleasure to what he was curious about and snooping. The first thing he had to figure out was how a contract worked... for some reason it sounded more complicating than a simple agreement like the Eiki Tournament for example...

* * *

"HIEI!" Catherine raged. 

"Onna, he's alive."

"But-"

"I believe the words you stated yourself were '_Don't be so hard on him_'. You aren't following your own advice."

"It wasn't advice it was-"

This time the door swinging open caused Catherine to be cut off as well as a tackle from a certain pup. "Rin-sensei!"

"Ume-chan! How'd the match go?"

Hiei stood at a moment of disbelif but sighed exhasperatedly as Ume explained how the match had went. The young teacher squealed as Ume stated the victory and ruffled the pup's head stating how she couldn't wait to see her match. He couldn't understand how she could switch her mood so quickly; he figured it was 'mood swings' but decided to take the oppertunity and escape from her wrath when he had the chance. He sprinted for the door, leaving the two girls alone.

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_Gokan: The Five Senses_

Manako: eyes

Miru: to see

Kiku: to hear

Kagu: to smell

Sawaru: to touch, to feel

Ossharu: to speak, Utau: to sing

_Words_

Sousou: hurry

Ara, ara: My, my (not a possessive "my", sort of like saying "oh my goodness" depending on the tone, it is usually for being playful)

_Animals_

Urufu: wolf

Fugainai: cowardly, spiritless, worthless, disappointing, weak-minded


	11. Ch 10: The Place Between Places

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho nor do I assosiate with them in any fashion. Just another otaku writing fanfics...**

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Chapter 12: The Place Between Places 

_Blood-wine eyes slowly opened as he felt cold flakes of crystal breeze rested on him then melted at the touch of his warm and tanned skin. His feet were buried in the ground at nearly two feet, nearly reaching his knees. "Is this the void?" he thought. He heard an echoing reply that vibrated within his eardrums, telling him otherwise. _

(!( "'tis not the void you speak of. It is but a tear in a sheer mind where mental barriers are as thin as the air.")!)

_Hiei opened his mouth to say something, but piles of snow piled into his mouth, causing him to hack, spitting out the snow, or what was left of it. He shielded his face with a sleeve, not beliving how heavy the blizzard was. It was not mother nature doing what she pleased, from what he could tell. Hiei then decided to ask the question mentally, "Then what is this place?"_

(!("I have already answered that, fool. Do pay attention before you get snow flocked into your mouth,")!) Hiei narrowed his eyes, (!("If you're wondering where I am, seek for the pond which snow does not touch.")!)

_Hiei waited a moment. The only voice was coming from the gusts of the whirling winds, giving snow a chance to dance in midair in swirls and sways. He wondered if he should trust the speaker, but then again he didn't know the way out so he had no other choice. Hiei began to make steep steps as he tried to pass through the heaps of snow. He slowly registered that whenever he was going the wrong way, the voice would say something like _(!("Not that way you fool!")!) or (!("Where'd you learn to navigate you moron?")!) _which started to irritate him since whenever he tried to go the direction of the voice, the winds would pick up. It was as if the winds were forcing him away. But that couldn't be possible, unless an ice master or a wind apparation were controlling them. But he hadn't sensed anything for a good while as he toiled through the desserted place. He hadn't even bothered to look at the many glaciers with frosted trees or frozen butterflies. _

_A whirl of a wind nearly lifted him off his feet, but he rapidly grabbed the hilt of his sword, swinging it out, and stabbing it into the ground. He grunted as the winds howled through his mane, and he thanked for kami's sake that he was half fire apparation or else he would have frozen to death from all of the bitter cold. When he felt that it was safe, he lifted his sword, taking an inch of a step and striking the ground again. He continued to venture this way until he had passed two glaciers (nearly five times larger than himself) which had been followed by large glaciers just about two thirds smaller than the leading glaciers. The wind started to settle as he took easy steps, and he could no longer hear the complains of the caustic voice. The snow was barely one milimeter off the ground (which Hiei was relived to since he was sore from having to walk into circles that seemed to go on forever), but none touched the strange fence around the lake._

_The fence was made out of a white wood, making a net patterned structre in a dome-like shape. He approached the large, prisoned lake slowly and glanced down to his reflection. But it wasn't his own reflection. The figure of a small girl stood in Hiei's place (in the lake). Her hair was a blazing red, cut up to her chin on the right while the left it was cut at the top of her ear (cut in lairs in the back). Her entire body was covered with foreign characters that were a dull black. Her charcoal eyes gazed directly towards him, as if inspecting him. She had no sleeves or cloth, showing off her tanned skin, and more foreign letters that were vertically written._

(!("It seems my other half doesn't have that bad of a taste. You look yummy.")!)

_Hiei gave a cold glare, however it had no effect to her since she was giggling as if he had made a goofy face. _"Who are you?"

(!("No one in particular. You could say that I'm someone's demonic behavior stoed away. And those damn psychics just _had_ to choose the things I hate!")!)

_She sighed as she saw the dumbfounded expression in his eyes. She figured he wouldn't catch it at first since he couldn't tell from the start the blizzard was to keep unwanted trespassers away. _(!("I can't say who I am word for word. It's this stupid barrier that's preventing me from saying what I want, if I do it will be a load of hell for me. But thanks to that mindless, but useful, half of mine it isn't dark anymore and I can at least talk.")!)

"What _are _you babbling about? I don't have time for foolishness."

(!("You really are hopeless. I thought you had at least _some_ morality. Let me give you a memory boost: you met a girl at a bookstore. That book woke me up and gave me my voice.)!)

_Cinnamon-red eyes widened as he registered the insident. So he hadn't gone batty when he thought he had sensed something from the bookstore. It must have been the black book, "Baka onna. You really _do_ have a hard head." he thought. He was more stunned once his surroundings faded (even the cold air had lifted) as new features appeared before him. Shelves filled with books. It was an old store, but it was still running and in (somewhat) good shape. The ends of his boots clapped as they placed onto the ground while Hiei scanned the area, however paused as he spotted Catherine through a crack from the shelves. Strange foreign letters glimmered across her cheeks, making Hiei register that she had the book already. She hadn't noticed him as he slowly approached, however heaps of liturature collapsed onto him without warning. The sound of tumbling caught Catherine's attention however cheerful voices absorbed her (the letters faded with a slow shimmer before she turned)._

_He grunted as he sat up, taking off the flapping book that rested on his head and the others that piled onto his lap. Another grunt caught the fire apparation's attention. He twisted his head, narrowing his eyes as he saw a young man with shaggy hair beside him. The youth appeared to be (at least) nearly twenty, but something caused Hiei not able to sense wether the youth was a demon or human. But he could tell, or at least he thought, the youth had a deep resemblance to Catherine. _

_The lad swore as he slowly stood up, letting the books drop on his own. _"Damn that was close. Good thing that Catty is still as dense as a stone."_ He frowned as he spoke hoarsly to himself. Though began to chuckle as he heard the far off conversation. _"So she's back to her ol' self, eh? That's good."

_Hiei was stunned as the teen stared directly towards Hiei, giving a wink before vanishing in a puff of smoke. As the smoke began to fade, the surroundings around him swirled again into darkness, and once again he could feel the bitter air before seeing, once again, the prisoned lake. Frozen vines weaved around the wooden dome-fence like before, clinging onto the talismans that showed no motion. Hiei's hand combed the frozen ground, white powder melting in his hand. He pulled himself up while trying to register what had happened and where the hell he was._

(!("You've been knocked out for awhile. Now do you remember?")!)

—

"Where has that jerk gone to now?"

Ebony hair waved with the rush of motion. Footsteps followed the parallel walls with every turn and stiff doors. The young mentor had been so caught up that she didn't notice the swift demon escape without warning. Typical. He never talked unless it was about sarcasum or scolding. Gliding footsteps echoed from the opposite direction. They beated louder and louder until there was a lard crash, long hair parachuted over temples while there was a vibrating shake from the ground. Both counterparts glanced towards eachother, one about ready to slug the other while the other's eyes gleamed with apology, causing a soft escape of exhasperation to release, affirming no harm.

"Sorry."

"S'all right."

Kurama streched his arm out to offer Catherine a hand however she pulled herself up, not seeing his hand through her curtains of hair. He wondered why the girl kept such long hair, even he had long hair but hers was getting quite long.

"S'none of your business about my hair."

Kurama gave a startled expression for a brief moment, but curled his lips into a soft smile. He should have known better. "All right." He then waited a moment, trying to find the right words. "You seem to be in an awful hurry."

"Yup, have to keep an eye on the pups. See ya." She spoke quickly as she began to stalk off, Kurama watching her from behind giving a small sigh.

It didn't take Catherine that long to reach the next destination, which was pretty much no where since she hadn't a clue what to do now. The trainee's division was nearly over and Kuwabara was a test dummy for the pups to train with, but she didn't know how much of a protection he would be if the twins fried him. She'd regret not being able to see him get fried by the twins, but knowing his "code" he wouldn't permit going against Manako or Ume-chan (which was the reason Ume-chan had gone to visit Catherine, to ask her to train again but Catherine had found out that Hiei had crept away, causing her to be furious since she was 'still in an arugment' with him). A small squeak escaped from her as she heard a voice calling her name. She turned around and relaxed as she saw the shy pup approach her, however her relaxation turned into fury.

"What do you think you're doing outta bed Tsuki-kun? You're still injured aren't you?"

The pup hesitated, "... Rine-sensei, you're family's psychic, ne?"

A brow rose, "Hai... naze?" _'Did he get his head examined?'_

"Is there some rules? Like contracts or bonds?"

Catherine thought for a moment. She did know some of the rules, but there were too many to remember and some of them no one even bothered to tell her. "I'm not really sure (Tsuki's wolf ears dropped)... all I know is that a contract goes through a long procedure between the psychics and the people who are bonded in the contract. Why are you so interested all of a sudden?"

"Oh... uh, no reason in particualr..." The pup ruffled the back of his head and gave a sheepish laugh, causing Catherine to give a confused (and curious) expression.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go and-"

"Don't even think about training. Although most of your wounds have closed, you still need to rest. There's a possiblility of the wounds re-opening and it's not healthy to heal your wounds more than twice on a daily basis. Get some rest."

"Hai" sighed the pup.

—

"What _was_ that?" _Hiei asked groggly. His temples throbbed as he heard a faint ring from within his eardrums._

(!("That was a memory. Dunno who's though, but it was a memory. Some of my other half's telepathy comes to here when she doesn't realize it, and it causes the scenery to change. It's given me the chance to see what's beyond these ripples and white. You might feel sick for a while you're here. But it might be just me, then again I'm nearly _always_ sick of being in this damned water.")!)

_"What I wouldn't give to shut her up..._"

(!("Heard that.")!)

_Hiei growled irritatedly and gritted his teeth as he spoke. _"How do I get out?"

_A snort. He slowly registered that she herself must have been trying to figure out that wild goose chace since she was a prisoner. _"How did you get into this place?"

(!("You need to ask the proper question: _Why _was this place created? You could say I was a little naughty when I was bonded with my half's senses. Some of her lot didn't like me very much so they shut me out but I want warm air. However, even a touch of the papers and you get zapped and those pretty vines have poison in them... Uh oh...")!)

"What _now_?" _Hiei was alarmed as the white air was slowly engulf with dark shades of gray. He felt creatures of some kind (the size of weights) bring him down to ground. Before his vision began to haze, glowing amber eyes glanced towards him and small crackles of laughter could be heard. His eyes dropped slowly while the crackles faded. Everything around him swirled and swirled until everything was pitch black._

—

"Hiei? Hiei, are you all right?"

"...onna?"

Hiei placed his hand onto his head, groaning. His vision was blurry, however could hear chuckles from part of the room. He shot an unfocused glare towards the two teen detectives with a warning lable.

"A word about this and I'll have both of your heads chopped up and rest them on your graves."

"All right, all right that's enough. Yusuke, Kuwabara, go and check on the trainee teams that were in the previous fights. Make sure they've either been healed or treated and none are missing."

"Sure. C'mon Kuwabara," Yusuke pulled at the end of Kwuabara's white jacket, causing him to loose balance and to nearly be dragged while grumbling "Okay, okay. Geez." along the way. A shut of the door gave Hiei a chance to sigh exhasperatedly.

"Did something happen? You were unconsious in the middle of the hallway."

"... I don't remember exactly. It's all a blur."

"Well, you should rest up some more. I could get Catherine to--"

"There's no need for that." Hiei said sharply. "I just need a moment alone."

"All right then, I'll go check on the ookami."

* * *

**Happy Holidays everyone! Well, I think I made it a little sloppy towards the ending but I'll try to fix some of the chapters later on... as for me currently, I'm trying to survive from vertically challenge abuse coming from my cousins. And jetlag. Well, I'm going to try to update as soon as possible.**

Naze: Why?, How?


	12. Ch 12: The Other Half

**Disclaimer: **

**I know, I know, I haven't been writing lately. I've been sort of stuck on this chapter and things have come up. Well, I'll definately write a ton more during the summer, but I will try to continue to write during the week(ends). **

* * *

Chapter 11: The Other Half 

"Let us out! For bloody's sake _LET US OUT!_" howled a premature wolfling.

"Oh for the love of--" A screeching howl interrupting the speaking female. "_KAGU THAT'S ENOUGH!_" bellowed the she-wolf.

The he-wolf shivered at the sound of her bellowing voice. There was a banging on the door with someone yelling to keep it down and then an awkward silence filled the air. A grumble could be heard from the he-wolf something among the lines of, "You're more scarier than Ume-chan when she's..." He whimpered again as he heard a growl. He covered his ebony wolf-ears with his tanned hands, sighing. They had been there for only a few weeks and he was already impatient. He swore that he'd rip off the head of the bastard who kidnapped him.

"It's going to be worse if you kick and scream. Just--"

"Just _what_? Wait until they kill us? Or wait until all of our comrades are dead?"

"--be patient."

"Don't gots that. Lost it when I was a pup."

"You still _are_ a pup." sighed the she-wolf.

"Can't you use one of your illusions? Or water? Or _something_?"

"Illusions don't do much. Besides, if I sing even a single note, _this_ note will shred my forsaken _magic_ to bloody hell and drain me even after I cry uncle."

The she-wolf revealed her anatomy by pulling up half of her kimono sleeve. A piece of paper wrapped around her arm, from what Kagu couldn't even tell if it was magic, chi or even reiki. But either way it was swarming around her arm, flowing around her body like a shallow veil. _Shallow_, he thought. _Which means that it can break easily!_ He saught the plan mentally as he folded his arms and nodded accordingly, but if only the she-wolf would cooperate with him it would be a sinch to break loose.

"It's--"

"No."

"But--"

"_No_ Kagu."

Kagu sighed. The female youth was no older than he, yet acted as if she was a ningen-obaasan with bad taste of style and a grumpy attitude. No matter. He had the seal himself, however what puzzled him was that the characters were all wrong and strange. He hadn't seen the foreign kanji or whatever it was. Though he had an idea to rip it off, but because Utatu-san wouldn't listen they'd be stuck there forever. Or however long the kidnappers were going to keep him. Kagu just hoped, for once, that Tsuki would use his stupid noggin for once to find them.

---

"Ume-chan, don't overdo it this time."

Ume sighed and gave a repeated "Hai, hai." several times before enetering the abandoned arena, gazing boredly towards her opponent. Manako stood across from Ume with her hand on her hip, glancing towards her sibling while he gave a wry grin and a nod. She then looked at the stands where two of the other detectives who previously introduced themselves as Kurama and Kuawbara (Ume-chan was fairly flustered as Kurama introduced himself). Manako looked back towards her opponent however her eyes slightly widened as her nose twitched. Smelling other scents was one of her worst priorities, but she wasn't fooled if there was a different species in the area. She took a look back towards their instructor however she had already announced for the two females to begin their match to even warn her about her suspection. She jumped in the air as Ume began to crumble part of the arena and dived down into the earth posseser with a fist lunged. _"Lightining Jab!"_ Manako hollared. Yellow and blue sparks swirled around her wrist as she thrusted her fist, unleashing the sparks in a clockwise spiral towards Ume.

Ume clapped her hands together, placing her hands onto the arena. A small dome surrounded her with the same structure from the arena, making the attack less violent. The wall rattled and rattled, indicating that Manako was striking with her claw from the outside but the thing with earth and lightning elements is that earth cancled out lightning, giving Ume an advantage, however, the more Ume used her earth element, the more energy she was loosing. She breathed unevenly as she sat back while keeping her hands in contact with the ground so she was able to regenerate the dome. She stared in awe as she saw her dome start to break off in tiny particles until she was sitting inside the eye of a sand tornado. She squinted her eyes to see through the particles, only to see a figure laying on the ground, assuming that it was Manako from estimating the angle from where Manako was in before the dome was disintigrated.

"Spirit sword!"

An orange aura blazed out from the arena in the shape of a sword hitting the figure, or so it seemed. Catherine gazed wearily as she tried to comprehend what was goinng on; the sudden stroke of sand had thrown her off deeper into the wall where she was grinding against with the force pounding her into the wall. Sand shards diced into her flesh as if tiny darts were cutting her skin, even worse, some of it was getting into her eyes causing her to shut them. The sand bgan to swarm around her body, hardening into what looked like a large hand. The pressure became more intense than ever, but Catherine could not remember the rest once she blacked out.

---

(!("This is no time to be sleeping Catherine.")!) a melodic voice echoed.

_Unlike The Ohter Place where it was freezing cold as well as had at least a little bit of scenery, this place was ptich black. There was no change of temprature and the air was still. A small ghostly figure stood behind Catherine wearing nothing but a white robe and could be easily mistaken for a mear child, however her voice seemed rather mature for her age much like Koenma. The child sighed with impatience, breathing in deeply._

(!("WAKE UP!")!) boomed the child.

_Startled, Catherine jolted up, not even noticing the child behind her. Whirls of questions rummaged through Catherine's mind, which only made the child seem more irritated. Apparently, like the Other Half, she could hear thoughts as if someone was speaking and when someone had a lot of questions to ask, she would get even more irritated. The child yelled again with much annoyance, which gave Catherine a baffled expression._

(!("What you think transferrs to my mind. So I would appriciate it if you would calm youself.")!)

(!("First of all, What the hell are you babbling about? And secondly, it's nearly _impossible_ for me to relax. I just got attacked by a bastard who's gonna get his ass kicked!")!)

---

Kurama and Kuwabara were both occupied with the attacker who introduced himself as Sabure; a sand minpulator. Sabure chuckled as his sand-made Hand hovered above him, still holding Cathrine. It only took Kurama half a second to realize what the sand demon was trying to pull; if they cooperated then he would let Catherine go, or not hurt her. However it could be what Sabure _wanted_ them to think. Clearly he had a reason for attacking them in the first place, but what bothered him was how on earth the demon got into the dome without anyone realizing that he had arrived... As Kurama's curiosity widened, he stared in awe as the Hand disintegrated and most of the sand winds were cut off with a huge force of energy.

Catherine, or at least it appeared to be her body, stood in midair as she stared blankly towards Sabure who fell back from over-shock. She gave a calm jesture of her hand and a sudden burst of energy rampaged Sabure through one of the walls behind him. The only physical differnce about her was her pale-white eyes and cold expression, which gave a cold chill even Siberia couldn't handle. The thick atmosphere dimmed as a black blur entered the dome. She stared, only to realize that her vision was beginning to become poor. The more fuzzy her vision became, the more exhausted she felt and the more exhausted she felt, the more her energy calmed down, causing her to fall closer to the ground.

"Hiei!" Kurama called.

It didn't take Kurama's voice to get Hiei moving as he jolted from his position to Catherine in a split second, landing gently on the ground. Kurama and Kuwabara both hussled over to bother apparations, soon to be followed by the trainees but a wine-colored glare caused each of the pups to hault dead in their tracks. As the detectives wondered how on earth the apparation had such vast energy, light steps approached the shattered dome which started to pull itself together in one piece due to Atotori's chi which had not left the dome even after she showed her true colors-- or at least Hiei knew of. The pups turned their heads and muttered in a small circle as their sempai's relative entered the area.

"Boy, Rine-san sure knows how to throw a party. Wish I knew about it."

"This isn't a joking matter." Hiei said hastily as Shouheki continued to step closer until he was a yard or so away.

"The demon that was attacking earlier isn't moving; I think I saw a ferry girl sending him up in the sky which must mean that he is either dead or wanted but since he's only B class, I believe he's just dead."

"What do you want?"

"Just a friendly conversation. And I need to be taking Rine-san with me."

"And why is that?" Kurama asked.

Shouheki sighed, beginning to walk closer. "I am of a higher rank and have to take responsibility of my family member. If you don't believe me, you can just go ask her mother if you want to hear the exact thing."

It was only a matter of moments as Shouheki hoisted Catherine over his shoulder and walked out through the exit. It took him twice the time it would have getting back without Catherine, but he knew better than to leave her on her own; even with her friends around she was trouble. He could sense the new energy he had long forgotten of several years back and with the energy the memories of his grotesque past haunted him. The psychic wondered how on earth she even broke the seals when she wasn't even aware of them; what worried him even more was the beast that was once her childhood could be unlocked if the seals were broken. It gave him chills just thinking about it.

"Rine-san, you truely are a mess. Powerful, but a mess. Even those who have too much power can become fools."

* * *

**Sorry for the wait; it's the end of the year and I think I'll be able to write more, that is if my first martial arts tournament, summer school and my very first AnimeExpo don't distract me... well, I think this one is shorter than the others but I think this might be the most reccent one for now. I'll try to get more chapters up ASAP.**


	13. Ignore this chapter! Old news

Another Remake

Sorry…

Yes, I know I've been neglecting this story and I apologize for those who have been interested in figuring out what's going to happen next. I have decided to end this fanfiction, but I WILL make a new version of it. I apologize for taking so long in updating.

Scratch that... I will NOT be ending this fanfic! :( Yes, I know, I need to make up my mind... please be patient for my updates.


	14. HOME?

**My _deepest_ apologies. I've been trying to figure out how to fix this chapter, but decided to just keep it as is. Hopefully I haven't bored any of you yet.**

**I am not the founder or owner of this anime series. I'm just a fan. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 12: HOME?

_"… Even those who have too much power can become fools."_

"Screw you..." a voice grumbled hoarsely.

The teenager didn't exactly know how long it had been since she had heard his voice, but once she hand regained her consciousness, she felt a brush of wind fluttering against her face that indicated that she was moving quickly. How she had been moving without seeing or where she was going, she hadn't a single clue; but something in the pit of her stomach was screaming at her to go back immediately. She knew in the back of her active mind that something was irregularly out of place and incredibly itchy. The itchy feeling was unbareable, but she couldn't figure out where it was coming from, and even if she did she wouldn't be able to achieve scratching it because she knew that something indestructable was keeping her arms locked. Everything Catherine was feeling was undoubtably uncomfotable and it was getting on her nerves, but not as nerve-wrecking as the voice that had suddenly spoken. The relative had a smile in his voice, but she didn't pick up his sound of relief.

"For once, could you just act like a proper lady?" he sighed. "And don't bother opening your eyes, it won't be any good for you."

She wondered how anyone could sound so annoying, but then, Kuwabara came to mind and she grimaced. How her counsins could bare to talk with him was out of her knowledge. The female could feel his chuckle against his chest, causing her grimace to turn into a visible and audible distaste.

"What the hell do you mean by _that_ Shouheki? And why are you carrying me?"

"The eyes or acting like a proper lady?" He mused.

"Well a _proper lady_ is suppose to be standing on her own two feet, not be carried around by some wacko!"

"I assure you, there are other _wackos_ besides the one carrying you. And how you bare to be around your friends..." He paused, trying to edit his mid-sentence, but he couldn't find the right words; he left the sentence unfinished. Something in the wind told her that he was shaking his head, but she couldn't be sure. Right then, there was an awkward silence between the two; Catherine still trying to remember what had happened while Shouheki had something on his mind. He wasn't allowing her to break through his barrier of thought, so she gave up and finally spoke aloud.

"Where are we going?"

"Home."

Catherine's eyes jolted open with horror, but like Shouheki had said it was no good. Something was terribly wrong, and she couldn't understand what was going on, so she decided to try and add things up. First, she was training the pups. Then something happened… what was it? All she could remember was sand and then a black realm, but it wasn't as black as she had been seeing at the moment. The darkness she had previously been in seemed to have a life of its own – here it just felt lonely and indecisive. She wanted to go back to that place, or whatever it was, but she couldn't remember how to even get there in the first place. She had stumbled into it by accident.

"What's going on?" she asked terrified. "Why can't I see anything?"

Shouheki stared at her, shocked. How couldn't she remember that she had just killed a demon? She had been there when the demon had been attacked, but then again, he himself hadn't been there long enough to witness what was going on. He admitted that he felt a huge difference between psychic waves when she had been attacking the demon. And without a doubt he knew it was a psychic, but it couldn't have been the other small one – he had arrived seconds before Shouheki had. But Catherine was the only psychic that had been around at the time, so it must have been her. Or maybe he had been overlooking something...

"HELLO? Shouheki turn around NOW!" Catherine demanded. Her voice was frail, but she made desperate attempts to amplify her voice, which had started to easily irritate the elder cousin.

"I can't." he replied simply.

"To hell you can't! You've got legs don't you? Turn your ass around and send me back now." Catherine swore.

If Shouheki hadn't been so preoccupied with an ignorant brat for a cousin, he would have teased her about how pathetic her voice was sounding. No doubt she needed rest, but she wouldn't fall asleep even if she had been given medicine for it. But he decided to press the idea. After all, it was his duty to make sure that Catherine was safe and healthy. For now, at least.

"Catherine, your exhausted. It'd be best if you get some sleep – we'll be in the human world in a few more hours. Makai would take twice as long to get there."

"Then why didn't we just use the portal?"

He sighed. "Because the cousins who _can_ make the portal are missing. We can't even sense them… it's like they're dead. Or stripped from their powers."

Catherine's expression dropped to disbelief. There was no way they could have been killed – if that was true, then the pups would have been long gone by now. She shook her head, _Now isn't the time to think like that. Tsuki's too stubborn for his own good. They're fine_. She thought, pepping herself to the bring side. This was why she had to stay there, to make sure that the wolves returned safely. That was why they had brought her to Makai in the first place.

"They can't be dead…" she whispered.

"That's what we all are hoping for, and that's why we have to get you home. Things will go more smoothly if the heir –" he froze, feeling like he was loosing oxygen. If Catherine could see how pale he was, she would worry. But she still worried as she heard him hyperventilating. He knew the contract was physically choking him and it wouldn't stop until he either found a way around it, or if he was lying dead. The latter idea didn't seem like a good idea, so he searched for a quick replacement for the word.

"The what?"

"…if the air-headed brat would keep her mouth shut." He wheezed quickly. There was a gasp of relief after the quick sentence, but no doubt Catherine was still angry. "Catherine, go back to sleep."

"_Make_ me_._"

The rush of wind Catherine had been feeling seemed to stop the second she had spoken. All she could remember was feeling a shudo strike to her throat, but it never seemed to dawn on her that Shouheki was desprate enough to knock her out. He hoisted her up onto his shoulder and looked at the trail in front of him and sighed. He was standing on the top of a cliff, followed by more series of cliffs and bare grounds. Lightning struck above him, threatening to strike him if he wasn't careful. But he had to. He knew he was lying when he said that it would be a few more hours until they arrived to the portal, but it really would have only taken him no more than thirty minutes.

"Who's there?" he asked calmly.

* * *

Yusuke's eyes trailed onto Hiei as he made slow paces, making his lips curve into a wide grin. He never would have thought he'd see the day when the fire apparation would be _worried _about something other than his own sister. But even the time that she was kidnapped, he was menacing, which was why he decided to give Kuwabara a chance to go out in the demon city. Kuwabara was skeptical at first, but Kurama seemed to assure his safety, seeing as he had left with the full-fledged human as a "body guard".

"If you're so worried about her, why don't you go and find her?"

Hiei shot his blood red eyes towards the ignorant detective, who raised his hands up as a gesture of defense. "Kidding, Kidding." _Yeah right_... _but I don't want to be his chew toy right now. Where's Kuwabara when you need him?_

Hiei rolled his eyes. "You need to learn how to conseal your thoughts, detective."

"Yeah, yeah." _And you need to stop worrying about your girlfriend._

Yusuke folded his arms behind his head and leaned back casually, giving a sigh of annoyance. He couldn't remember how many times he and Kurama had been telling him that it was an essential thing if he was going against psychics, but this was _Yusuke_. He never thought of strategies when it came to fighting, it was always: _Beat the crap out of the bad guy, and if I die, oh well. It wouldn't be the first time that's happened._ After all, his first death had gotten him the detective's job. He wondered what would happen next if he died a second time, but more than likely, if Yusuke had gotten back to life a second time Keiko would beat the crap out of him. _I'll have to be careful the next time 'round... Keiko's scary when she's angry._

Hiei shot another glare towawrds Yusuke. "I am _not_ worrying."

"So you admit she's your girlfriend?" His grin grew larger as he could pratically see a vein popping through Hiei's bandage.

"Baka detective..." he muttered. Yusuke still trailed Hiei's moves as he headed towards the window, but it never seemed to dawn to him why he had been walking instead of leaving him within a second. He shrugged the thought away, seeing as Hiei never really said what was on his mind unless it was an insult or something important.

"Going to find the cat?"

He was gone the instant Yusuke spoke.

"Great... now what am _I_ suppose to do?"

* * *

"Aww... he has short-term memory loss... but that's all right, though. We'll make beautiful children."

"Pass." Shouheki replied flatly. He started to walk forward, however the woman jumped in front of him. One of Shouheki's pet-peeves was when a woman never knew when to give up. Or anyone for that matter.

"You don't pass up the oppertunity when you see a beautiful woman."

"Why don't you direct me to one when I'm interested? Now will you please get out of my way?"

The woman was wearing a robe, consealing her body. The only hints she showed were honey colored eyes and matching strands of hair. A daggar flung out of her sleeve to the palm of her hand. Cearly, she had no intention of letting Shouheki pass unless he was ready for a fight, or if something else was traded for his life. She felt sorry for the human, but she couldn't go against her orders, otherwise they would have _her_ head.

"How about you give me your precious cargo and I'll let you go on your merry way?"

"I'd rather not. Please step out of the way before you make me want to rip your head off your shoulders."

She narrowed her eyes, "I'm afraid I can't do that. Since we don't see eye to eye, this will make things..." she disappeared, reappearing behind him with the daggar at his throat. "...difficult."

Hiei gave a frustrated sigh once he found himself stranded in piles of snow. "Why am I back in this. Stupid. Void?" he grunted as he stomped through the piles of frost. He swore as he tripped over something, while that other something swore the second he tripped.

"Hiei?" croaked the voice.

Hiei's eyes widened. He scrambled up to his feet, lifting up Catherine's pale body. She had been shivering violently, due to not being use to blizzards, then, tried curling closer towards Hiei's body. "Warm..." she whispered weakly.

"Stupid onna..."


End file.
